
Proceedings Paper
Demonstrator of the formation flying solar coronagraph ASPIICS/PROBA-3Format | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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$17.00 | $21.00 |
Paper Abstract
Formation Flying opens the possibility to conceive and deploy giant solar coronagraphs in space permanently
reproducing the optimum conditions of a total eclipse of the Sun ("artificial" eclipse) thus giving access to the inner
corona with unprecedented spatial resolution and contrast (low stray light). The first opportunity to implement such a
coronagraph "ASPIICS" will be offered by the European Space Agency (ESA) PROBA-3 technology mission devoted to
the in-orbit demonstration of formation flying technologies. Two spacecrafts separated by about 150 m form a giant
externally-occulted coronagraph: the optical part hosted by one spacecraft remains entirely protected from direct sunlight
by remaining in the shadow of an external occulter hosted by the other spacecraft. We developed and tested a scale-model
'breadboard' (i.e., 30m) of the PROBA-3/ASPIICS Formation Flying coronagraph. The investigations focused on
two metrology systems capable of measuring both the absolute pointing of the coronagraph (by sensing the projected
shadow and penumbra produced by the external occulting disk) and the alignment of the formation (by re-imaging light
sources located on the rear-side of the occulting disk with the optical part of the coronagraph). In this contribution, we
will describe the demonstrator and report on our results on the crucial question of the alignment and pointing in space of
long instruments (> 100 m) with an accuracy of a few arcsec. This study has been conducted in the framework of an ESA
"STARTIGER" Initiative, a novel approach aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of a new and promising technology on
a very short time scale (six months).
Paper Details
Date Published: 10 August 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7731, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 773147 (10 August 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.857561
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7731:
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave
Jacobus M. Oschmann Jr.; Mark C. Clampin; Howard A. MacEwen, Editor(s)
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7731, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 773147 (10 August 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.857561
Show Author Affiliations
Sébastien Vives, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
Luc Damé, LATMOS/IPSL, CNRS, Univ. Versailles St-Quentin (France)
Philippe Lamy, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
A. Antonopoulos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
W. Bon, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
G. Capobianco, INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino (Italy)
G. Crescenzio, INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino (Italy)
V. Da Deppo, IFN-CNR (Italy)
Luc Damé, LATMOS/IPSL, CNRS, Univ. Versailles St-Quentin (France)
Philippe Lamy, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
A. Antonopoulos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
W. Bon, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
G. Capobianco, INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino (Italy)
G. Crescenzio, INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino (Italy)
V. Da Deppo, IFN-CNR (Italy)
M. Ellouzi, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
J. Garcia, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
C. Guillon, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
A. Mazzoli, Ctr. Spatial de Liège (Belgium)
T. Soilly, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
F. Stathopoulos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
C. Tsiganos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
J. Garcia, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
C. Guillon, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
A. Mazzoli, Ctr. Spatial de Liège (Belgium)
T. Soilly, Lab. d'Astrophysique de Marseille, CNRS, Univ. de Provence (France)
F. Stathopoulos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
C. Tsiganos, Univ. of Athens (Greece)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7731:
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave
Jacobus M. Oschmann Jr.; Mark C. Clampin; Howard A. MacEwen, Editor(s)
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