KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Spectrographs, Calibration, Fabry Perot interferometers, Observatories, Control systems, Sensors, Control software, Equipment, Domes
MARVEL is a new facility at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma) which comprises an array of four 0.8m telescopes, each feeding via fibre link into a single high-resolution spectrograph. The facility will provide dedicated target vetting and follow-up capability to support large exoplanet surveys through radial velocity measurements with precision at the metre-per-second level. The observatory site, with four new domes and a standalone stabilised spectrograph building, will soon be complete and ready for hardware installation and commissioning. Here we present an overview of the facility and a status update on several component subsystems: the telescope hardware, control software, and scheduling software; the fibre injection units at each telescope; the optical and mechanical design and tolerances of the spectrograph and vacuum vessel; the calibration system hardware and calibration strategies; and the progress in development of the instrument’s data reduction pipeline.
KU Leuven’s CubeSpec mission is pioneering the use of a CubeSat platform for advanced space-based spectroscopy.1 This innovation is partly due to its payload electronics, which must be space-efficient and powerconscious. To achieve exceptional pointing accuracy, CubeSpec employs a High-Pointing Precision Platform (HPPP) that works in tandem with the onboard Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS). The HPPP utilizes a Fine Steering Mirror (FSM), controlled by piezo actuators, to direct light precisely onto the spectrograph slit. The design incorporates a DC-DC boost converter and a linear amplifier to meet the highvoltage demands of the piezo actuators. The HPPP setup is controlled in a closed-loop system with a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), a CMOS detector, and strain gauges that provide real-time feedback. The spectrograph output is captured by the Science Detector, which is the same detector model as the FGS. Due to stringent time requirements, a Xilinx Zynq 7000 FPGA manages the detector readout. The payload processor can communicate with the OBC over a CAN bus employing the CubeSat Space Protocol. This paper outlines the current progression in the development of CubeSpec’s payload electronics.
CubeSpec is an in-orbit demonstration CubeSat mission in the ESA GSTP programme, developed and funded by the Belgian federal space policy BELSPO. The goal of the mission is to demonstrate high-spectral-resolution astronomical spectroscopy from a 12-unit CubeSat. The technological challenges are numerous. The optical payload, consisting of an off-axis Cassegrain telescope and a compact Echelle spectrometer have been designed to fit in the bigger half of a 12U CubeSat (12x20x30cm). The telescope is built entirely from a ceramic material to limit defocusing when the spacecraft thermal environment changes. The payload radiator is shielded from the Sun via a deploying Sun shade, allowing pointing to a large part of the sky without illuminating the radiator panel. The high resolution spectrograph requires arcsecond-level pointing stability. This is achieved using a performant 3-axis wheel stabilised attitude control system with two star trackers augmented with a piezo-actuated 3-axis fine beam steering mechanism in the payload. CubeSpec is now starting the implementation phase, with a planned launch in 2026. A qualification and a flight model are being constructed and tested. We give an overview of the mission, its technologies and qualification status.
CubeSpec is an ESA in-orbit-demonstration mission, based on a 12U CubeSat, targeting high-resolution optical astronomical spectroscopy of bright targets. It is developed and funded in Belgium and scheduled for launch early 2026. The CubeSpec payload consists of an off-axis Cassegrain telescope with a rectangular aperture filling the surface area of two CubeSat units, followed by a prism cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph folded behind the primary mirror of the telescope. The complete optical payload fits in approximately 6 units (∼12 x 20 x 30 cm) of the spacecraft. CubeSpec delivers a spectral resolution of R = 55 000 and covers the wavelength range from 420 to 620 nm. The optical design is sufficiently flexible to allow tuning it with minimum hardware changes to a wide range of spectral resolution and coverage. A fine-guidance system consisting of a piezo-actuated fine steering mirror and a fine-guidance sensor provide arcsec-precise centering of the source image on the slit of the spectrograph, cancelling out pointing errors and spacecraft jitter. In this contribution, we describe the optical and optomechanical design of the CubeSpec payload, and discuss the challenged imposed by the extremely compact size and the large temperature excursions endured during each orbit.
MARVEL is a novel facility targeting extreme-precision radial velocity observations. Dedicated to confirming and characterizing planet candidates from the TESS and future PLATO missions, MARVEL will provide mass measurements of a multitude of exoplanets. The MARVEL instrument consists of an array of four 80-cm robotic telescopes, linked to one state-of-the-art high-resolution echelle spectrograph, through a set of optical fibers. MARVEL can observe the radial velocities of four different stars simultaneously or, alternatively, combine the flux from four telescopes pointing to a single faint target in one spectrum. It will be installed next to the Mercator Telescope at the Roque De Los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma (SPAIN). MARVEL is designed and built by a KU Leuven (Belgium) led consortium, with contributions from Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
CubeSpec is an ESA in-orbit-demonstration mission, based on a 6U CubeSat, targeting high-resolution astronomical spectroscopy. It is developed and funded in Belgium and scheduled for launch at the end of 2024. The CubeSpec payload consists of an off-axis Cassegrain telescope with a rectangular aperture (186x82mm2 ) and a prism cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph. The telescope aperture almost completely covers the surface area of 2 CubeSat units and the entire optical system fits in 4 units (10x20x20cm) of the spacecraft. CubeSpec delivers a spectral resolution of R=55000 and covers the wavelength range from 420 to 620 nm. Furthermore, it is equipped with a fine-guidance system based on a fast beam-steering mirror and a fine-guidance sensor that provide accurate centering of the source image on the spectrograph slit to compensate for spacecraft pointing jitter. In this contribution, we present the optical design of the CubeSpec payload.
CubeSpec is an in-orbit demonstration CubeSat mission in the ESA technology programme, developed and funded in Belgium. The goal of the mission is to demonstrate high-spectral-resolution astronomical spectroscopy from a 6-unit CubeSat. The technological challenges are numerous. The telescope and echelle spectrometer have been designed to fit in a 10×10×20cm volume. The fast telescope focus and spectrometer alignment is achieved via an athermal design. Shielding from the Sun and Earth infrared flux is achieved via deploying Earth and Sun shades. Arcsecond-level pointing stability is achieved using a performant 3-axis wheel stabilised attitude control system with star tracker augmented with a fine beam steering mechanism. CubeSpec is now starting the implementation phase, with a planned launch in 2024. A qualification and a flight model will be constructed and tested in the next 2 years. In this contribution we will give an overview of the mission, its technologies and qualification status.
The future ESA space mission PLATO aims to detect thousands of exoplanets, including Earth-like planets, and constrain their radius and mean density. To achieve this goal, the space based photometric observations are not enough but need to be complemented by ground-based observations to measure the Radial Velocity (RV) of the exoplanet host stars. MARVEL is such a facility consisting of four 80 cm telescope linked through optical fibers to a single high-resolution ´echelle spectrograph, designed for high-precision RV measurements with a uncertainty of ∼ 1 ms−1 . MARVEL is build by a consortium led by the KU Leuven with contributions from the UK, Austria, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, and Spain, and will be commissioned in 2023. To reach such high RV precision, not only ultra-stable hardware is currently being developed, but also a state-of-the-art data processing pipeline for which we present the first results in this poster.
CUBESPEC is an ESA in-orbit demonstration 6U CubeSat mission, currently in phase A/B. CUBESPEC will deliver months long series of high-resolution spectroscopy to study the structure of massive stars. The payload consists of a Cassegrain telescope with a rectangular primary mirror of 9 x 19 cm2 and a compact high-resolution echelle spectrograph. We aim at a 2023 launch demonstrating the CUBESPEC concept: providing the astronomical community with a generic solution for affordable space-based spectroscopy. The spectrograph design can be configured with minimal hardware changes for low spectral resolution (R = 50) up to high resolution (R ~ 50000) over a over wavelength ranges between 200–1000nm. CUBESPEC will use the KU Leuven ADCS for coarse pointing of the spacecraft, supplemented with a fine-guidance system using a fast steering mirror to center the source on the spectrograph slit. We present the CUBESPEC design and mission analysis, and give an update of the project status.
The space missions TESS and PLATO plan to double the number of 4000 exoplanets already discovered and will measure the size of thousands of exoplanets around the brightest stars in the sky, allowing ground-based radial velocity spectroscopy follow-up to determine the orbit and mass of the detected planets. The new facility we are developing, MARVEL (Raskin et al. this conference1 ), will enable the ground-based follow-up of large numbers of exoplanet detections expected from TESS and PLATO, which cannot be carried out only by the current facilities that achieve the necessary radial velocity accuracy of 1 ms-1 or less. This paper presents the MARVEL observation strategy and performance analysis based on predicted PLATO transit detection yield simulations. The resulting observation scenario baseline will help in the instrument design choices and demonstrate the effectiveness of MARVEL as a TESS and PLATO science enabling facility.
Since the first discovery of a planet outside of our Solar System in 1995, exoplanet research has shifted from detecting to characterizing worlds around other stars. The TESS (NASA, launched 2019) and PLATO mission (ESA, planned launch 2026) will find and constrain the size of thousands of exoplanets around bright stars all over the sky. Radial velocity measurements are needed to characterize the orbit and mass, and complete the picture of densities and composition of the exoplanet systems found. The Ariel mission (ESA, planned launch 2028) will characterize exoplanet atmospheres with infrared spectroscopy. Characterization of stellar activity using optical spectroscopy from the ground is key to retrieve the spectral footprint of the planetary atmosphere in Ariel’s spectra. To enable the scientific harvest of the TESS, PLATO and Ariel space missions, we plan to install MARVEL as an extension of the existing Mercator Telescope at the Roque De Los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma (SPAIN). MARVEL consists of an array of four 80 cm telescopes linked through optical fibers to a single high-resolution echelle spectrograph, optimized for extreme-precision radial velocity measurements. It can observe the radial velocities of four different stars simultaneously or, alternatively, combine the flux from four telescopes pointing to a single faint target in one spectrum. MARVEL is constructed by a KU Leuven (Belgium) led collaboration, with contributions from the UK, Austria, Australia, Sweden, Denmark and Spain. In this paper, we present the MARVEL instrument with special focus on the optical design and expected performance of the spectrograph, and report on the status of the project.
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