Results from the RAIDS Experiment aboard the ISS

The Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) is a suite of three photometers, three spectrometers, and two spectrographs which span the wavelength range 55–874 nm and remotely sense the thermosphere and ionosphere by scanning and imaging the limb. RAIDS was launched September 10, 2009 aboard the maiden flight of Japan's new H-II Transfer Vehicle to the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The scientific objectives of the new RAIDS experiment are to study the temperature of the lower thermosphere (100–200 km), to measure composition and chemistry of the lower thermosphere and ionosphere, and to isolate the contribution of the initial source of OII 834 photons from the resonantly scattered component that correlates to the characteristics of the dayside ionosphere. RAIDS entered science operations on October 23, 2009 and has been collecting atmospheric and ionospheric data in a variety of observational modes. RAIDS provides data useful for exploring tidal effects in the thermosphere and ionosphere system, validating dayside ionospheric remote sensing methods, and studying local time variations in important chemical and thermal processes.