Applications of Detecting 336nm Emission at High Altitude

A parameter of an actual spacecraft can be estimated based on a spectroscopic image of an emission from an atomic or molecular product of an interaction between an atmospheric gas and an atomic or molecular species in a plume from the actual spacecraft. The actual spacecraft can be characterized by a set of values of at least N parameters. An N-dimensional lookup table can store information about a plurality of simulated emissions, each being from the atomic or molecular product of a simulated interaction between the atmospheric gas and the atomic or molecular species in a plume from a simulated spacecraft characterized by a corresponding set of values of the N parameters. A simulated emission can be selected based on comparisons between the information about the simulated emissions and the spectroscopic image. A value of at least one of the N parameters of the actual spacecraft can be estimated based on the selected simulated emission.