Instrumentation & Technology
The Solar and Heliospheric Research group actively participates in the development of new instrumentation for both spaceflight and laboratory use. Theoretical efforts motivate the design and implementation of all spacecraft instrumentation. Without theory, we simply wouldn't know what phenomena to measure! Instrumentation design, construction and launch in turn drive data analysis efforts, which ultimately test the validity of theory.
Engineers, scientists and students in the SHRG are involved in every aspect of the design, construction and launch of new instrumentation. Members of the group have a long history of successful instruments, spanning 25+ years!
Recent Missions
MESSENGER-FIPS
The Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer is a miniature mass spectrometer currently aboard the MESSENGER spacecraft. Its first encounter with Mercury will be in 2008, when it will record the first direct composition measurement of the space environment of the planet. FIPS employed several engineers and scientists, as well as many graduate and undergraduate students.
Recent Designs
ENA
SHRG members, in collaboration with other institutions, designed the collimator for an innovative instrument that measures the energetic neutral composition of the solar wind.
LRO-LSAS
In a last-ditch effort to measure the pristine lunar atmosphere before the arrival of human exploration efforts on the moon, SHRG members have proposed the Lunar Surface and Atmosphere Spectrometer, as part of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. It will measure the composition of the lunar atmosphere, as well as make direct measurements of the lunar surface through pickup ion detection and identification. More information on LSAS will be available after all LRO instruments have been selected.
GoBlue Imager
This project was technology-focused mission design by two classes of Prof. Zurbuchen in academic year 2005. The system design was led, in part, by Ryan Falor. See white papers ( 1 2 ) for details.
Laboratory Facilities
The Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of Michigan has several freestanding vaccum chambers used for the calibration and testing of instrument hardware. The main prototyping chamber has a 66-cm diameter and 328-L volume, with an independent compressed air supply for valve operation. Ions are created using an electron-impact ionizing source and passed into a Colutron Research Corporation control unit, which includes an Einzel lens for focusing and a Wien velocity filter to achieve mass selection. A 20-kV voltage break allows the beam source, lens, and filter to be floated to high voltages, and the chamber is equipped with a 1-m drift tube for beam cooling and collimation. The perimeter of the chamber has a number of ports of various sizes, a residual gas analyzer port, and numerous BNC, SHV, and Bendix feed-throughs for prototype control and data collection. The system can be pumped down to mTorr pressures with a mechanical roughing pump, then to sub-mTorr pressures using a Shimadzu Turbopump. A CTI Cryogenics cryopump is also used to achieve an operating vacuum of ~3 x 10-7 Torr.
