Pre-launch calibration of the SeaWinds scatterometer electronics subsystem

The SeaWinds instrument is a spaceborne scatterometer due to be launched in the year 2000 on the Japanese Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (ADEOS) II platform. Its mission is to measure wind speed and direction over the Earth's ice-free oceans. The SES, the heart of the scatterometer, is being built by Raytheon E-Systems and is responsible for measuring the normalized ocean scattering coefficient, /spl sigma//sub 0/, from which the wind vector is derived. This paper discusses the pre-launch calibration of the SES that ensures on-orbit performance meets the mission's requirements.