Optical alignment of contamination-sensitive far-ultraviolet spectrographs for Aspera SmallSat mission
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.
Authors
- Daniel Truong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0731-258X)
- Jacob R. Chambers
- Sooseong Park
- Dennis Zaritsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5177-727X)
- Aafaque R. Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1244-0295)
- Peter Behroozi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2517-6446)
- Thomas J. McMahon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2069-8982)
- Haeun Chung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3043-2555)
- John Kidd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4010-3050)
- Lauren Corlies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0646-1540)
- Heejoo Choi
- Rebecca Su
- Trenton Brendel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6375-8674)
- Jamison Noenickx
- Keri Hoadley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8636-3309)
- Walter M. Harris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8378-4503)
- Ewan S. Douglas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0813-4308)
- Carlos J. Vargas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7936-0831)
- Harrison Bradley
- Oswald H. W. Siegmund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9390-0056)
- Hannah Tanquary
- D. Hamara
- J. Christopher Howk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2591-3792)
- Daewook Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1122-8727)
- C. W. Hergenrother (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9120-7212)
- Ellie Wolcott
- Fernando Coronado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9406-3867)
- Erika Hamden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3131-7372)
- Ramona Augustin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7472-3824)
- Simran Agarwal
- Jason Corliss
- M. Keppler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7250-074X)
- Nicole Melso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4895-6592)
- Sumedha Uppnor
- Giulia Ghidoli
- Naomi Yescas
- Bill Verts
- Jacob Vider
- Jessica Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7232-5483)
- Elijah Garcia
- Ipek Nazende Kerkeser
- Sanford Selznic
- Ralf-J ̈urgen Dettmar
- David Schiminovich
- Ryan Pecha
- Gabe Noriega
- Joe Burchett
- Jasmine Martinez Castillo
- Cork Sauve
- A. W. Goodwin
- Greyson Davis
Institutions
- New Mexico State University (US)
- University of Iowa (US)
- Space Telescope Science Institute (US)
- Adler Planetarium (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Lunar and Planetary Institute (US)
- Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2024-08-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020822
- Primary Topic
- Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00