Marie-Laure Hellin

Optical calibration of the FUV spectrographic imager for the IMAGE mission

The FUV Spectrographic Imager for IMAGE is simultaneously imaging auroras at 1218 and 1358 angstrom. It is designed to efficiently reject the Lyman-(alpha) emission line at 1215.7 angstrom. This paper describes the optical calibration. The content is: 1) field of view calibration: detector pixels location with respect to the reference optical cube; distortion matrix used to computer the TDI. b) Radiometric calibration: detector response and linearity; instrument throughput according to its clear aperture and mirror reflection lost; response vs. wavelength and band-rejection certification.

Design and verification of the Far Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (FUV-SI) for the IMAGE mission

The IMAGE FUV-SI is simultaneously imaging auroras at 121.8 nm and 135.8 nm. The spectrograph design challenge is the efficient rejection of the intense Lyman-alpha emission at 121.6 nm while passing its Doppler-shifted component at 121.8 nm. The FUV-SI opto-mechanical design, analysis integration, and verification of performances against environment are discussed in this paper. In absence of STM environmental constraints at subsystem levels are derived analytically from F.E.M. and used for pre-qualifying optical subsystems.

Design and modelisation of a straylight facility for space optical instrument

In the framework of instrument calibration, straylight issues are a critical aspect that can deteriorate the optical performances of instrument. To cope with this, a new facility is designed dedicated for in-field and far field straylight characterization: up to 10-8 for in-field and up to 10-10 for far field straylight in the visible to NIR spectral ranges. Moreover, from previous straylight test performed at CSL, vacuum conditions are needed for reaching the 10-10 rejection requirement mainly to avoid air/dust diffusion. The major constrains are to design a straylight facility either for in-field and out-field straylight measurements. That requires high dynamic range at source level and a high radiance point source allowing small diverging collimated beam. Moreover, the straylight facility has to be implemented into a limited envelope and has to be built with vacuum compatible materials and black coating. As checking the facility performance requires an instrument better than the facility itself, that is no easy to find, so that the performances have been estimated through a modelisation into a non sequential optical software. This modelisation is based on CAD importation of mechanical design, on BRDF characteristics of black coating and on statistical averaging of ray tracing at instrument entrance.

Performance of solmacs, a high PV solar concentrator with efficient optics

A new solar panel with high concentration photovoltaic technology (x700) has been designed, prototyped and tested in the SOLMACS project. The quality of concentrating optics is a key factor for high module efficiency. Therefore new dedicated PMMA Fresnel lenses were studied and produced by injection molding. Lens design, material and production process were optimized to achieve a high optical yield of 86%. Thorough lens performance assessment in optical laboratory was completed with lifetime UV aging tests. Another important aspect is the thermal control of the hot spot created under the solar cell that receives the concentrated flux of 700 Suns. A dedicated heat spreader was developed to achieve passive thermal control with minimum mass and cost. This was supported by thermal models and tests at both cell and module level. 35% triple junction cells were implemented in the module. Micro-assembly technologies were used for the cell packaging and electrical connections. In support to the research, a continu...

The EUI flight instrument of Solar Orbiter: from optical alignment to end-to-end calibration

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument for the Solar Orbiter mission will image the solar corona in the extreme ultraviolet (17.1 nm and 30.4 nm) and in the vacuum ultraviolet (121.6 nm) spectral ranges. The development of the EUI instrument has been successfully completed with the optical alignment of its three channels’ telescope, the thermal and mechanical environmental verification, the electrical and software validations, and an end-toend on-ground calibration of the two-units’ flight instrument at the operating wavelengths. The instrument has been delivered and installed on the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which is now undergoing all preparatory activities before launch.

Conceptual design of a stray light facility for Earth observation satellites

With the upcoming of TMA or FMA (Three or Four Mirrors Anastigmat) telescope design in Earth Observation system, stray light is a major contributor to the degradation of the image quality. Numerous sources of stray light can be identified and theoretically evaluated. Nevertheless in order to build a stray light model of the instrument, the Point Spread Function(s) of the instrument, i.e., the flux response of the instrument to the flux received at the instrument entrance from an infinite distant point source needs to be determined. This paper presents a conceptual design of a facility placed in a vacuum chamber to eliminate undesired air particles scatter light sources. The specification of the clean room class or vacuum will depend on the required rejection to be measured. Once the vacuum chamber is closed, the stray light level from the external environment can be considered as negligible. Inside the chamber a dedicated baffle design is required to eliminate undesired light generated by the set up itself e.g. retro reflected light away from the instrument under test. This implies blackened shrouds all around the specimen. The proposed illumination system is a 400 mm off axis parabolic mirror with a focal length of 2 m. The off axis design suppresses the problem of stray light that can be generated by the internal obstruction. A dedicated block source is evaluated in order to avoid any stray light coming from the structure around the source pinhole. Dedicated attention is required on the selection of the source to achieve the required large measurement dynamic.

Development of a calibration facility for small EO sat as PROBA V

Today more and more small Earth Observation satellites are under development. All of them are very ambitious and needs accurate on ground calibration. A typical case is PROBA V payload where to ensure the continuity of Vegetation data, an instrument responding to the same user requirements as Vegetation was build, but with an overall mass of about 30 kg, instead of the 130 kg of VGT. Because a very high level of performances is required these need to be verified and calibrated with a high level of accuracy. This paper presents the calibration facility developed for the testing of small Earth Observation payloads as PROBA V. The facility needs to address the geometrical and radiometric calibration of the payload. To achieve this, a 400 mm clear aperture off axis collimator with a dedicated focal plane is developed for the geometrical calibration and a 300 mm integrating sphere calibrated at the LNE is used for the radiometric calibration. To access all the Field Of View, the payload is placed on a rotating tip tilt table allowing rotation of +/- 180° for across track Field Of View scanning and +/-10° for along track scanning. The payload is surrounded by thermal shroud to provide the required thermal environment.