Characterizing exoplanets in the visible and infrared: A spectrometer concept for the EChO space mission
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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

Författare

A. M. Glauser

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

R. Van Boekel

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

O. Krause

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

T. Henning

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

B. Benneke

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

J. Bouwman

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

P. E. Cubillos

University of Central Florida

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

I. J.M. Crossfield

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

O. Detre

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

M. Ebert

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

U. Grözinger

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

M. Gudel

Universität Wien

J. Harrington

University of Central Florida

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Kay Justtanont

Astronomi och plasmafysik

U. Klaas

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

R. Lenzen

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

N. Madhusudhan

Yale University

M. Meyer

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

C. Mordasini

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

F. Muller

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

R. Ottensamer

Universität Wien

J. Y. Plesseria

Universite de Liège

S. P. Quanz

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

A. Reiners

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

E. Renotte

Universite de Liège

R. R. Rohloff

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

S. Scheithauer

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

H. M. Schmid

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

J. R. Schrader

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

U. Seemann

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

D. Stam

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

B. Vandenbussche

KU Leuven

U. Wehmeier

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation

22511717 (ISSN) 22511725 (eISSN)

Vol. 2 1 1350004

Ämneskategorier

Rymd- och flygteknik

Övrig annan teknik

Människa-datorinteraktion (interaktionsdesign)

Infrastruktur

Onsala rymdobservatorium

DOI

10.1142/S2251171713500049

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2021-02-19