Rosetta-Alice Ⅱ: An upgraded UV spectrograph for a Rosetta-type mission

摘要

The European Space Agency's (ESA's) Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, launched 2004, carried the first in the Southwest Research Institute's (SwRI's) Alice series of ultraviolet imaging spectrographs. Subsequent iterations of the instrument are currently operational on NASA's New Horizons. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Juno missions, launched 2006, 2009 and 2011, respectively, and two further versions of the spectrograph are in development at SwRI for flight on ESA's JUICE mission to the Jovian system (Phase C) and NASA's Europa Clipper mission (Phase B). While the basic optical design is similar for all versions of the instrument, developments in microchannel plate (MCP) detector and electronics technology have enhanced the scientific return of the more recent Alice spectrographs. with some corresponding increase in the mass and power of the system. Here, we describe a re-evaluation of the Rosetta-Alice, (R-Alice) instrument design based on updated technology, lessons learned from subsequent Alice-type instrument development, and a "wish list" of suggested improvements in instrument performance provided by the R-Alice Science Team. The resulting instrument design, which we designate R-Alice Ⅱ, would form the baseline concept for an ultraviolet instrument proposed by the SwRI WS/Alice team for future Rosetta-type missions.