Program and Agenda

A tour of the CIRPAS Airborne Research Facility will be held on Friday morning. The research facility is based in an operational hangar at Marina Municipal Airport (3200 Imjin Rd., Suite A, Marina, CA 93933), approximately 20 minutes drive from the hotel. No transportation is provided. The tour will be approximately one hour.

Both facilities have collected extensive METOC datasets during atmospheric and defense-focused field campaigns worldwide. These efforts have supported numerous NPS student theses, faculty research projects, and publications, and have enhanced the understanding of environmental impacts on US Navy operations. The tour included:

• CIRPAS Airborne Research Facility - De Havilland Twin Otter - A customized research aircraft configured for atmospheric science and environmental characterization missions. The Twin Otter carries a comprehensive suite of basic meteorological parameters, aerosol, radiation, and turbulence sensors with flexible mounting options for pod-, nose-, and wing-based payloads. It has supported numerous field studies relevant to EO/DE propagation and modeling. Recent modifications include a reinforced nose section to expand payload capacity and accommodate ISR-related instrumentation.
• LEENA Environmental Sensing Systems - Display of gimbal-mounted EO/IR sensors, LIDAR/SODAR profilers, and meteorological and turbulence instruments used to assess environmental effects on EO/DE propagation. These systems have been deployed concurrently with the Twin Otter and in support of directed-energy test events such as SSL-TM, HELIOS, and HELCAP.
• Outdoor Demonstration (weather permitting) - Live operation of the MZA DELTA-Wx system and supporting meteorological sensors for real-time environmental monitoring.

The emphasis of the SRDC has been on providing students with hands-on experience in the design, analysis, and testing of space systems and systems and to provide students facilities for experimental research. Learn more about the Laboratory here. The tour consisted of three testbeds:

• NPS High Energy Laser Beam Control Research Testbed (HBCRT) - It has a 30cm diameter telescope, acquisition sensor, and adaptive optics.
• Multi Conjugate Woofer-Tweeter Adaptive Optics Testbed - It consists of three deformable mirror and two wavefront sensor.
• Segmented Mirror Telescope - It consists of six segments, 3 m diameter, with 156 piezo actuators on each segments, 3 fine and 6 coarse actuators on each segments for alignment, FSM, and focal plane.