MAP, opposition effect

From: Allen Thomson (thomsona@flash.net)
Date: Sat Jul 07 2001 - 14:42:34 PDT

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    Looking into it a bit, MAP may be an interesting way to study the
    opposition/hotspot
    effect as it relates to at least some satellites.
    
    http://cloud.ucsd.edu/missions/triana/517.html says that the opposition
    effect
    starts to show up at ~ 10 deg backscatter angle: "The enhanced radiances
    fall
    within an observation cone of about 10o around the Earth-Sun line."
    
    And the Google-cached version of map.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/orbit.html says
    "Once in orbit about L2, the satellite [MAP] maintains a Lissajous orbit
    such
    that the MAP-Earth vector remains between 1 and 10 degrees off the Sun-Earth
    vector to satisfy communications requirements while avoiding eclipses."
    
    So it looks as if MAP will be cruising within the necessary angular range to
    probe the opposition effect.  The specularly-reflecting solar panels might
    be a problem or a
    benefit, TBD.
    
    
    
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