Aspera is a NASA-funded UV SmallSat mission designed to detect and map warm-hot phase halo gas around nearby galaxies. The Aspera payload is designed to detect faint diffuse O VI emission at around 103.2 nm, satisfying the sensitivity requirement of 5×10−19 erg/s/cm2/arcsec2 over 179 hours of exposure. In this manuscript, we describe the overall payload design of Aspera. The payload comprises two identical co-aligned UV long-slit spectrograph optical channels sharing a common UV-sensitive microchannel plate detector. The design delivers spectral resolution R ∼ 2,000 over the wavelength range of 101 to 106 nm. The field of view of each channel is 1 degree by 30 arcsec, with an effective area of 1.1 cm2. The mission is now entering the payload integration and testing phase, with the projected launch-ready date set for late 2025 or early 2026. The mission will be launched into low-Earth orbit via rideshare.
Aspera is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers SmallSat mission designed to study diffuse Ovi emission from the warm-hot phase gas in the halos of nearby galaxies. Its payload consists of two identical Rowland Circle-type long-slit spectrographs, sharing a single MicroChannel plate detector. Each spectrograph channel consists of an off-axis parabola primary mirror and a toroidal diffraction grating optimized for the 1013-1057 Å bandpass. Despite the simple configuration, the optical alignment/integration process for Aspera is challenging due to tight optical alignment tolerances, driven by the compact form factor, and the contamination sensitivity of the Far-Ultraviolet optics and detectors. In this paper, we discuss implementing a novel multi-phase approach to meet these requirements using state-of-the-art optical metrology tools. For coarsely positioning the optics we use a blue-laser 3D scanner while the fine alignment is done with a Zygo interferometer and a custom computer-generated hologram. The detector focus requires iterative in-vacuum alignment using a Vacuum UV collimator. The alignment is done in a controlled cleanroom facility at the University of Arizona.
Aspera is a NASA Pioneers SmallSat mission designed to detect and map the O VI emission (1032 Å) through long-slit spectroscopy in the halos of nearby galaxies for the first time. The spectrograph utilizes toroidal gratings with multilayer coatings of aluminum, lithium fluoride, and magnesium fluoride that optimize their throughput in the extreme ultraviolet EUV waveband of 1030 to 1040 Å. We discuss the grating verification test setup design, including optical alignment and reference measurement setup. We also present grating testing and grating efficiency simulation results using the target grating groove profile and the multi-layer coatings.
The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is a Probe mission concept developed in response to NASA’s Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) Announcement of Opportunity. LEM has a single science instrument composed of a large-area, wide-field X-ray optic and a microcalorimeter X-ray imaging spectrometer in the focal plane. LEM is optimized to observe low-surface-brightness diffuse X-ray emission over a 30′ equivalent diameter field of view with 1.3 and 2.5 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2−2.0 keV band. Our primary scientific objective is to map the thermal, kinetic, and elemental properties of the diffuse gas in the extended X-ray halos of galaxies, the outskirts of galaxy clusters, the filamentary structures between these clusters, the Milky Way star-formation regions, the Galactic halo, and supernova remnants in the Milky Way and Local Group. The combination of a wide-field optic with 18′′ angular resolution end-to-end and a microcalorimeter array with 1.3 eV spectral resolution in a 5′ × 5′ inner array (2.5 eV outside of that) offers unprecedented sensitivity to extended low-surface-brightness X-ray emission. This allows us to study feedback processes, gas dynamics, and metal enrichment over seven orders of magnitude in spatial scales, from parsecs to tens of megaparsecs. LEM will spend approximately 11% of its five-year prime science mission performing an All-Sky Survey, the first all-sky X-ray survey at high spectral resolution. The remainder of the five-year science mission will be divided between directed science (30%) and competed General Observer science (70%). LEM and the NewAthena/XIFU are highly complementary, with LEM’s optimization for soft X-rays, large FOV, 1.3 eV spectral resolution, and large grasp balancing the NewAthena/X-IFU’s broadband sensitivity, large effective area, and unprecedented spectral resolving power at 6 keV. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the mission architecture, the directed science driving the mission design, and the broad scope these capabilities offer to the entire astrophysics community.
Aspera is a NASA-funded UV SmallSat Mission in development with a projected launch in 2025. The goal of the mission is to detect and map warm-hot gas in the circumgalactic medium of nearby galaxies traced by the Ovi emission line at 103.2 nm. To that goal, Aspera will conduct long-exposure observations at one or more spatial fields around each target galaxy, employing two long-slit spectrographs. Spectra from both channels are focused on a single micro-channel plate detector. In preparation of the mission’s launch, we are developing a data reduction pipeline, the goal of which is to reconstruct a calibrated 3D IFU-like data cube by combining the photon event lists obtained during each observation for a given target galaxy. In this proceedings paper, we present an outline for the data reduction pipeline and describe the data flow through the processing of science observations. We will further discuss individual steps to be applied to the data during the processing and show how our final data cubes shall be reconstructed. Finally, we will present our planned data products and discuss how simulations of the Aspera data cubes are being used to develop the pipeline.
The Fiber Optic Broad-band Optical Spectrometer (FOBOS) is a high-priority spectroscopic facility concept for the W. M. Keck Observatory. Here, we provide an update on the FOBOS conceptual design. FOBOS will deploy 1800 fibers across the 20-arcminute field-of-view of the Keck II Telescope. Starbugs fiber positioners will be used to deploy individual fibers as well as fiber-bundle arrays (integral field units, IFUs). Different combinations of active single fibers or IFUs can be selected to carry light to one of three mounted spectrographs, each with a 600-fiber pseudoslit. Each spectrograph has four wavelength channels, enabling end-to-end instrument sensitivity greater than 30% from 0.31-1.0 µm at a spectral resolution of R ~ 3500. With its high fiber density on a large telescope and modest field-of-view, FOBOS is optimized to obtain deep spectroscopy for large samples. In single- fiber mode, it will deliver premier spectroscopic reference sets for maximizing the information (e.g., photometric redshifts) that can be extracted from panoramic imaging surveys obtained from the forthcoming Rubin and Roman Observatories. Its IFUs will map emission from the circumgalactic interface between forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium at z ~ 2–3, and lay the path for multiplexed resolved spectroscopy of high-z galaxies aided by ground-layer and multi-object adaptive optics. In the nearby universe, its high sampling density and combination of single-fiber and IFU modes will revolutionize our understanding of the M31 disk and bulge via stellar populations and kinematics. Finally, with a robust and intelligent target and program allocation system, FOBOS will be a premier facility for follow-up of rare, faint, and transient sources that can be interleaved into its suite of observing programs. With a commitment to delivering science-ready data products, FOBOS will enable unique and powerful combinations of focused, PI-led programs and community-driven observing campaigns that promise major advances in cosmology, galaxy formation, time-domain astronomy, and stellar evolution.
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