Jul 14, 2024
METIS is a first-generation instrument for the ELT, the Extremely Large Telescope currently under construction in the Atacama Desert in Chile, which will see its first light in 2028. Irfu has been involved in this instrument since 2018. In 2021, 14 cryomechanisms that will drive a dozen optical systems on the METIS instrument were delivered. METIS comprises two separate units: one for spectroscopy, the other for imaging. The latter contains coronagraphs, based on phase masks.
Mar 26, 2022
X-ray imaging of a solar flare with the Solar Orbiter STIX instrument and new simulations of the Sun
The Solar Orbiter mission, launched on February 10, 2020 from Cape Canaveral has already traveled more than 2 billion km. Since its passage just 470 km above the Earth in November 2021, the science mission has officially begun. On March 26, 2022, Solar Orbiter passed within 0.32 astronomical units of our star (about 1/3 the distance from Earth to the Sun) for its fourth perihelion (the point in its orbit where Solar Orbiter is closest to the Sun) at a speed of 198,000 km/h.
Jun 04, 2020
On May 18th 2020, ESO formally closed the preliminary design review of the ELT/METIS thermal infrared instrument. Following this important milestone, the instrument enters into the final design phase (phase C) in which the its design will be frozen just before its building.
Nov 07, 2018
A prototype of the MXT camera arrived at the CNES in Toulouse on 25 October 2018. This is the Structural and Thermal Model (STM), which will be integrated into the telescope that will be sent to China to be mounted on the SVOM satellite Qualification Model.
The objective of this model is to validate the thermo-mechanical design of the camera. It also makes it possible to check the manufacturing and assembly capacity of the various components, which represent more than 1,000 elements.
Sep 26, 2018
X-ray photons were detected for the first time in late August 2018 with an engineering model of the SVOM MXT focal plane. This is an important step towards the validation of the design of the detection chain.
The MXT telescope, for Microchannel X-ray Telescope, will be flown on board the SVOM satellite, a collaborative project between France (CNES) and China (CAS, CNSA) to study gamma-ray bursts. It aims at detecting soft X-rays (0.
Apr 16, 2017
The PILOT astrophysics experiment has been launched the 17th April under a stratospheric balloon from Alice Springs in central Australia. The aim is to observe the polarization of the emission of dust particles present in the interstellar medium of our Galaxy and the nearby galaxies. With a mass of nearly one ton, PILOT [1] uses the biggest balloons launched by the National Center for Space Studies (CNES).
