Preliminary results from herschel-SPIRE flight instrument testing

The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) is one of the three scientific instruments to fly on the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, and contains a three-band imaging submillimetre photometer and an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer. The flight model of the SPIRE cold focal plane unit has been built up in stages with a cold test campaign associated with each stage. The first campaign focusing on the spectrometer took place in early 2005 and the second campaign focusing on the photometer was in Autumn 2005. SPIRE is currently undergoing its third cold test campaign following cryogenic vibration testing. Test results to date show that the instrument is performing very well and in general meets not only its requirements but also most of its performance goals. We present an overview of the instrument tests performed to date, and the preliminary results.

Duke Scholars

Author David R. Smith Electrical and Computer Engineering