Laboratories
304 [LITSS]
The Laboratory for Integration, Testing, and Space Simulation (LITSS) is a dedicated lab for the simulating the space environment on instrument hardware and software. The lab contains an industrial thermal vacuum chamber, and the back room (304b) is a dark clean room for instrument characterization. This room contains a 4-lamp NIST-traceable SphereOptics integrating sphere (2024-04-18), rotational and translational hardware stage, wire grid polarizers and rotational mounts, and several Thorlabs benches for other optical GSE. LITSS also includes a 3D printer for developing models of ESI hardware for public relations and other non-space hardware. This lab was funded through NASA grant 80NSSC23K0607 with support from Maryland Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen.
333 [Conference Room]
This social laboratory is used for ESI meetings (virtual and in-person), a central hub for ESI lab tours, and also for ESI seminars and invited guests. This room contains two 65″ TVs, a 10’x4′ whiteboard, an Owl camera, and seating for 25.
334 [Prototyping Lab]
This laboratory is used to test and demonstrate new hardware, firmware, and develop software for space and Earth science applications. This laboratory is also International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)-controlled, meaning that only those with US citizenship or US permanent residence are allowed to use aspects of this space.
404D
This laboratory is used for calibration and development of in-situ instruments. This space contains the Polarized Imaging Nephelometer (PI-Neph) and the Open Imaging Nephelometer (OI-Neph). This lab space will also be the home of the Hyperspectral Imaging Projector (HIPP), a new collaboration between the ESI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
404E
This lab is a segmented clean room used to assemble instrumentation, optical testing, and calibration. This lab has a clean bench with positive airflow, two portable integrating LED hemispheres, and several Thorlabs benches for optical GSE. All spheres have a NIST-tracable radiometric calibration (2024-04-18). 404E also contains a Xenon tunable laser monochrometer, with spectral range between 0.2 and 2.5 um, for spectral response characterization of remote sensors.
405
This laboratory is used specifically for spectrometer characterization and aerosol measurement. This lab contains various samples of aerosol from across the world.
Computational Resources
NyX Cluster
We have developed a computing and storage cluster at ESI specifically designed for aerosol and cloud radiative transfer simulations and retrievals. Our cluster, NyX (nyx.esi.umbc.edu), consists of 7 x86_64_v4 nodes and 7 x86_64_v3 nodes, allowing for parallel processing and multi-node utilization. Furthermore, we have a storage server with a generous capacity of 360TB. In this way, it also serves as a local archive of ESI remote sensing and in-situ datasets.
ESI also maintains NyX-mobile, a compact mini-PC and independent server for field deployments. This server was recently used in the field to archive and process AirHARP2 data during NASA’s PACE-PAX field campaign in fall 2024.
The NyX cluster family is exclusively accessible to ESI members. If you’re interested in obtaining an account, please contact our HPC administrator, Anin Puthukkudy, at aputhukkudy[at]umbc.edu.
Git Server
The research group at ESI has established a specialized git server known as TFS (tfs.laco.phys.umbc.edu) to facilitate code development for scientific and data analysis pipelines within the group. TFS server is dedicated exclusively to the members of our research group, ensuring a secure and collaborative environment for code sharing and version control.
If you are interested in gaining access to TFS and contributing to our code development efforts, please reach out to our HPC administrator, Anin Puthukkudy, at aputhukkudy[at]umbc.edu. They will provide you with the necessary steps and information to obtain an account and start collaborating within our research group.