Significance of the occulter diffraction for the PROBA3/ASPIICS formation flight metrology

Federico Landini; Alessandro Bemporad; Mauro Focardi; Silvano Fineschi; Marco Romoli; Maurizio Pancrazzi; Cristian Baccani; Gerardo Capobianco; Davide Loreggia; Gianalfredo Nicolini; Giuseppe Massone; Vladimiro Noce; Cédric Thizy; Jean-Sébastien Servaye; Etienne Renotte

doi:10.1117/12.2187916

21 September 2015 Significance of the occulter diffraction for the PROBA3/ASPIICS formation flight metrology

Federico Landini, Alessandro Bemporad, Mauro Focardi, Silvano Fineschi, Marco Romoli, Maurizio Pancrazzi, Cristian Baccani, Gerardo Capobianco, Davide Loreggia, Gianalfredo Nicolini, Giuseppe Massone, Vladimiro Noce, Cédric Thizy, Jean-Sébastien Servaye, Etienne Renotte

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9604, Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation VI; 96040E (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2187916
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

PROBA-3/ASPIICS is a formation flying coronagraph selected by ESA and currently in its C/D phase. It is constituted by two spacecrafts (OSC, Occulter SpaceCraft, carrying the occulter, diameter 142 cm, and CSC, Coronagraph SpaceCraft, with the telescope) separated by ~144 m, kept in strict alignment by means of an active custom system. The alignment active system most critical components are the Shadow Positioning Sensors (SPS), a series of Si-PM (Silicon Photomultiplier) measuring the penumbra generated by the occulter. The arrangement of the SPSs around the telescope entrance aperture is defined as a trade-off between mechanical constraints and maximum sensitivity to misalignments. The signal detected by the SPSs can be approximately simulated with a geometrical analysis based on the variation of the penumbra generated by the external occulter. The stray light generated by the diffraction from the external occulter may affect the SPSs signal. It is mandatory to carefully evaluate its level in order to refine the active alignment adjustment algorithm. This work is dedicated to the description of the preliminary investigation performed in order to evaluate the impact of the diffraction on the SPSs signal.

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Federico Landini, Alessandro Bemporad, Mauro Focardi, Silvano Fineschi, Marco Romoli, Maurizio Pancrazzi, Cristian Baccani, Gerardo Capobianco, Davide Loreggia, Gianalfredo Nicolini, Giuseppe Massone, Vladimiro Noce, Cédric Thizy, Jean-Sébastien Servaye, and Etienne Renotte "Significance of the occulter diffraction for the PROBA3/ASPIICS formation flight metrology", Proc. SPIE 9604, Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation VI, 96040E (21 September 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2187916

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