On the 30th of July 2020, NASA launched the Mars2020 mission. This mission, very similar to Mars Science Laboratory, consists in landing the Perseverance rover on the Martian surface in order to characterize the geology and history of Jezero Crater landing site, investigate Mars habitability, seek potential bio-signatures, cache samples for a future return to Earth, and demonstrate in-situ production of oxygen needed for human exploration.
The SuperCam instrument, an improved version of the ChemCam instrument on Curiosity rover, implements a remote micro-scale characterization of the mineralogy and elemental chemistry of the Mars surface, along with the search for extant organic materials. In addition to the elemental characterization offered by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Time-Resolved Raman and Luminescence Spectroscopy (TRR/L) and visible-infrared spectroscopy (VISIR) have been added for a complete mineralogical characterization of the samples. LIBS and TRR/L techniques will be exercised from the Rover calibration targets (1.5 m range) up to 7 m, whereas VISIR spectroscopy can be used on targets up to the horizon. A context color imagery capability is also implemented to place the analyzed samples in their geological context. A microphone allows recording aeolian phenomena, rover noises and the shock waves produced by the laser blasts on target up to 4 meters.
SuperCam consists of three units: the Body Unit built by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, the Mast Unit built by a French consortium of 6 laboratories and CNES, and the Calibration Target Unit led by the University of Valladolid in Spain.
SPIRou is a near-IR (0.98-2.35μm) echelle spectropolarimeter / high precision velocimeter installed at the beginning of the year 2018 on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with the main goal of detecting Earth-like planets around low mass stars and magnetic fields of forming stars. In this paper, the fiber links which connects the polarimeter unit to the cryogenic spectrograph unit (35 meter apart) are described. The pupil slicer which forms a slit compatible with the spectrograph entrance specifications is also discussed in this paper. Some challenging aspects are presented. In particular this paper will focus on the manufacturing of 35 meter fibers with a very low loss attenuation (< 13dB/km) in the non-usual fiber spectral domain from 0.98 μm to 2.35 μm. Other aspects as the scrambling performance of the fiber links to reach high accuracy radial velocity measurements (<1m/s) and the performances of the pupil slicer exposed at a cryogenic and vacuum environment will be discussed.
SPIRou is a near-IR echelle spectropolarimeter and high-precision velocimeter under construction as a next-
generation instrument for the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope. It is designed to cover a very wide simultaneous
near-IR spectral range (0.98-2.35 μm) at a resolving power of 73.5K, providing unpolarized and polarized
spectra of low-mass stars at a radial velocity (RV) precision of 1m/s. The main science goals of SPIRou are
the detection of habitable super-Earths around low-mass stars and the study of stellar magnetism of star at
the early stages of their formation. Following a successful final design review in Spring 2014, SPIRou is now
under construction and is scheduled to see first light in late 2017. We present an overview of key aspects of
SPIRou’s optical and mechanical design.
SPIRou is a near-IR (0.98-2.35μm), echelle spectropolarimeter / high precision velocimeter being designed as a nextgeneration
instrument for the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with the main goal of
detecting Earth-like planets around low-mass stars and magnetic fields of forming stars. The unique scientific and
technical capabilities of SPIRou are described in a series of seven companion papers. In this paper, the Front End of the
instrument is presented. Positioned at the Cassegrain Focal plane of the telescope, the front end is constituted of an
atmospheric dispersion corrector, a field viewer with an image stabilization unit (0.03 arc seconds RMS stabilization
goal), a calibration wheel and an achromatic polarimeter unit based on Fresnel Rhombs. The polarimeter permits the
circular and linear polarization analysis. The retardance of the Fresnel rhombs is nominal to better than 0.5% in the
whole spectral domain. The evaluation and the reduction of the thermal background of the Front end is a challenging part
of the instrument.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.