Related papers: Planning and Executing Airborne Astronomy Missions…

The most important limitation for ground-based submillimetre (submm) astronomy is the broad-band absorption of the total water vapour in the atmosphere above an observation site, often expressed as the Precipitable Water Vapour (PWV). A…

The extension of on-board data processing capabilities is an attractive option to reduce telemetry for scientific instruments on deep space missions. The challenges that this presents, however, require a comprehensive software system, which…

We propose SILVIA (Space Interferometer Laboratory Voyaging towards Innovative Applications), a mission concept designed to demonstrate ultra-precision formation flying between three spacecraft separated by 100 m. SILVIA aims to achieve…

The Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) is one of the two instruments onboard the ESA PLANCK satellite foreseen to be launched in 2007. The LFI will image the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies and the polarization in four different…

We present an overview of SPICA, the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics, a world-class space observatory optimized for mid- and far-IR astronomy (from 5 to ~210um) with a cryogenically cooled ~3.2m telescope (<6 K). Its…

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) has the longest baseline in the world, 22.7 m, for performing astronomical interferometry in Fizeau mode, which involves beam combination in a focal plane and preserves a wide…

Space interferometry is the inevitable endpoint of high angular resolution astrophysics, and a key technology that can be leveraged to analyse exoplanet formation and atmospheres with exceptional detail. However, the anticipated cost of…

We describe the design and construction of GREAT, the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies operated on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). GREAT is a modular dual-color heterodyne instrument for…

SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) is a JAXA led observatory that will operate in the mid and far infrared wavelength range (5-210 micron) with unprecedented sensitivity, thanks to the 3.5 m (current baseline)…

This paper provides an overview of the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) programme within the ESA Planck mission. The LFI instrument has been developed to produce high precision maps of the microwave sky at frequencies in the range 27-77 GHz,…

This paper develops a general observing strategy for missions performing all-sky surveys, where a single spacecraft maps the celestial sphere subject to realistic constraints. The strategy is flexible such that targeted observations and…

The proposed SuperNova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP) mission will have a two-meter class telescope delivering diffraction-limited images to an instrumented 0.7 square-degree field sensitive in the visible and near-infrared wavelength regime. We…

This project aimed to design, simulate, and implement a two-axis inertially stabilised platform (ISP) for use in astronomical applications. It aimed to approximate the stabilisation of a Meade ETX-90 3.5" compound telescope at low-cost…

Research activities during the last decade have shown the strong potential of photonic devices to greatly simplify ground based and space borne astronomical instruments and to improve their performance. We focus specifically on the…

Here follows a preliminary report on the construction of fake millimeter and sub-millimeter skies, as observed by virtual instruments, e.g. the COBRA/SAMBA mission, using theoretical modeling and data extrapolations. Our goal is to create…

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) is a project for a very large optical interferometer intended to obtain images of the planet formation process at scales as small as the Hill sphere of giant exoplanets. Its main science instruments will…

The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) is the first space mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of thousands of transiting exoplanets. Ariel was adopted in 2020 as the…

The calibration of ground-based submillimetre observations has always been a difficult process. We discuss how to overcome the limitations imposed by the submillimetre atmosphere. Novel ways to improve line-of-sight opacity estimates are…

With sub-microarcsecond angular accuracy, the \theia telescope will be capable of revealing the architectures of nearby exoplanetary systems down to the mass of Earth. This research addresses the challenges inherent in space astrometry…

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep…