Characterizing exoplanets in the visible and infrared: A spectrometer concept for the EChO space mission
Journal article, 2013
Transit-spectroscopy of exoplanets is one of the key observational techniques used to characterize extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. The observational challenges of these measurements require dedicated instrumentation and only the space environment allows undisturbed access to earth-like atmospheric features such as water or carbon dioxide. Therefore, several exoplanet-specific space missions are currently being studied. One of them is EChO, the Exoplanet Characterization Observatory, which is part of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, and which is one of four candidates for the M3 launch slot in 2024. In this paper we present the results of our assessment study of the EChO spectrometer, the only science instrument onboard this spacecraft. The instrument is a multi-channel all-reflective dispersive spectrometer, covering the wavelength range from 400 nm to 16μm simultaneously with a moderately low spectral resolution. We illustrate how the key technical challenge of the EChO mission - the high photometric stability - influences the choice of spectrometer concept and fundamentally drives the instrument design. First performance evaluations underline the suitability of the elaborated design solution for the needs of the EChO mission.
space vehicles: Instruments
instrumentation: Spectrographs
Planetary systems
Author
A. M. Glauser
Max Planck Society
R. Van Boekel
Max Planck Society
O. Krause
Max Planck Society
T. Henning
Max Planck Society
B. Benneke
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
J. Bouwman
Max Planck Society
P. E. Cubillos
University of Central Florida
Max Planck Society
I. J.M. Crossfield
Max Planck Society
O. Detre
Max Planck Society
M. Ebert
Max Planck Society
U. Grözinger
Max Planck Society
M. Gudel
University of Vienna
J. Harrington
University of Central Florida
Max Planck Society
Kay Justtanont
Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
U. Klaas
Max Planck Society
R. Lenzen
Max Planck Society
N. Madhusudhan
Yale University
M. Meyer
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
C. Mordasini
Max Planck Society
F. Muller
Max Planck Society
R. Ottensamer
University of Vienna
J. Y. Plesseria
University of Liège
S. P. Quanz
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
A. Reiners
University of Göttingen
E. Renotte
University of Liège
R. R. Rohloff
Max Planck Society
S. Scheithauer
Max Planck Society
H. M. Schmid
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
J. R. Schrader
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
U. Seemann
University of Göttingen
D. Stam
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
B. Vandenbussche
KU Leuven
U. Wehmeier
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation
22511717 (ISSN) 22511725 (eISSN)
Vol. 2 1 1350004Subject Categories
Aerospace Engineering
Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified
Human Computer Interaction
Infrastructure
Onsala Space Observatory
DOI
10.1142/S2251171713500049