The ARIEL InfraRed Spectrometer (AIRS) instrument will be implemented on board of the ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey) space mission led by ESA, to study the atmosphere of exoplanets by providing low resolution spectrum of the observed targets over broad infrared wavelength range covering the [1,95-7,8] μm. The satellite will be launched by ARIANE 6 from Kourou in 2029 for a 4 years mission. AIRS is equipped with two integrated Focal Plane Assemblies (iFPA) each resulting of the assembly of two subsystem: the Focal Plane Array (FPA) and the Cold Front-End Electronic (CFEE). Each FPA is equipped with a detector H1RG from Teledyne whose cut-off wavelength had been tuned to fit the wavelength domain of interest. The CFEE is connected by a flex cable to the detector package and passively cooled between around 60K through the AIRS optical benches and the Optical Bench of the ARIEL payload. Two different structural models and four bread board models have been developed to validate and qualify the thermal and mechanical design and to validate the full electrical functional detection chain. The paper will describe all these models and the results obtained during the qualification campaign and the performance tests of the first iFPA model equipped with an eight micrometers cut-off detector. This paper describes also the dedicated cryostat and test benches developed, with associated safety, to check compliance with mission requirement at subsystem level.
AIRS is the infrared spectroscopic instrument of ARIEL: Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey mission adopted in November 2020 as the Cosmic Vision M4 ESA mission and planned to be launched in 2029 by an Ariane 6 from Kourou toward a large amplitude orbit around L2 for a 4-year mission. Within the scientific payload, AIRS will perform transit spectroscopy of over 1000 exoplanets to complete a statistical survey, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a wide range of host stars. All these collected spectroscopic data will be a major asset to answer the key scientific questions addressed by this mission: what are exoplanets made of? How do planets and planetary systems form? How do planets and their atmospheres evolve over time? The AIRS instrument is based on two independent channels covering 1.95-3.90 µm (CH0) and 3.90-7.80 µm (CH1) wavelength ranges with prism-based dispersive elements producing spectra of low resolutions R>100 in CH0 and R>30 in CH1 on two independent detectors. The spectrometer is designed to provide a Nyquist-sampled spectrum in both spatial and spectral directions to limit the sensitivity of measurements to the jitter noise and intra pixels pattern during the long (10 hours) transit spectroscopy exposures. A full instrument overview will be presented covering the thermo-mechanical design of the instrument functioning in a 60 K environment, up to the detection and acquisition chain of both channels based on 2 HgCdTe detectors actively cooled to below 42 K. This overview will present updated information of phase C studies, in particular on the assembly and testing of prototypes that are highly representative of the future engineering model that will be used as an instrument-level qualification model.
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