The Instrument Control Unit of the ARIEL payload

Author(s): , Vladimiro Noce, Mauro Focardi, Anna Maria Di Giorgio, Emanuele Galli, Maria Farina, Giovanni Giusi, Marina Vela Nunez, Luca Naponiello, Andrea Lorenzani, Luca Serafini, Carlo Del Vecchio Blanco, Marco Verna, Cristophe Cara, Michel Berthé, Jerome Martignac, Roland Ottensamer, Giuseppina Micela, Giuseppe Malaguti, Natalia Auricchio, Emanuele Pace, Giampaolo Preti, Federico Miceli, Enzo Pascale, Giovanna Tinetti, Paul Eccleston, Elisabetta Tommasi, Fulvio De Persio, Pietro Bolli, Renzo Nesti, Marcella Iuzzolino, Luca Carbonaro, Ciro Del Vecchio, Debora Ferruzzi, Anna Brucalassi, Gilberto Falcini, Andrea Tozzi, Daniele Gottini
Abstract: ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing InfraRed Large-survey) is a medium-class mission of the European Space Agency, part of the Cosmic Vision program, whose launch is foreseen by early 2029. ARIEL aims to study the composition of exoplanet atmospheres, their formation and evolution. The ARIEL's target will be a sample of about 1000 planets observed with one or more of the following methods: transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy, at both visible and infrared wavelengths simultaneously. The scientific payload is composed by a reflective telescope having a 1m-class elliptical primary mirror, built in solid Aluminium, and two focal-plane instruments: FGS and AIRS. FGS (Fine Guidance System)¹ has the double purpose, as suggested by its name, of performing photometry (0.50-0.55 µm) and low resolution spectrometry over three bands (from 0.8 to 1.95 µm) and, simultaneously, to provide data to the spacecraft AOCS (Attitude and Orbit Control System) with a cadence of 10 Hz and contributing to reach a 0.02 arcsec pointing accuracy for bright targets. AIRS (ARIEL InfraRed Spectrometer) instrument will perform IR spectrometry in two wavelength ranges: between 1.95 and 3.9 µm (with a spectral resolution R > 100) and between 3.9 and 7.8 µm with a spectral resolution R > 30. This paper provides the status of the ICU (Instrument Control Unit), an electronic box whose purpose is to command and supply power to AIRS (as well as acquire science data from its two channels) and to command and control the TCU (Telescope Control Unit).
Organisation(s): Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s): INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Sapienza University of Rome, Kayser Italia S.r.l., Université Paris Saclay, Instituto Nazionale die Astrofisica (INAF), University of Florence, University College London, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Space Science Data Center (SSDC) - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2628172
Publication date: 2022
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics, 103038 Space exploration
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Condensed Matter Physics, Computer Science Applications, Applied Mathematics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a35480df-2e8e-42af-a374-9a0a5cc3341d

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