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WE PROPOSE TO STUDY AN INSTRUMENT CONCEPT TO IMPROVE UPON CURRENT CAPABILITIES IN UV IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY FOR PLANETARY USES. THE CONCEPT IS A UV MICROMIRROR SPECTROGRAPH WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDING DISCOVERY- AND NEW FRONTIERS-CLASS MISSIONS. THE STATE-OF-THE-ART UV IMAGING SPECTROGRAPHS SUCH AS THE SWRI-BUILT ALICE INSTRUMENTS (INCLUDING JUNO UVS ROSETTA ALICE AND LRO LAMP) AND THE LASP-BUILT CASSINI UVIS AND MAVEN IUVS RETURN USEFUL DATASETS FROM THEIR TARGETS AND HAVE OPENED UP THE FIELD TO THE NEXT QUESTIONS TO ADDRESS. RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE ENABLED INSTRUMENT IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF PLANETARY SCIENCE MISSIONS. FURTHERMORE A RANGE OF POSSIBLE UPCOMING MISSIONS COULD SUCCESSFULLY UTILIZE SUCH IMPROVED UV INSTRUMENTATION. THE GOAL OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT INSTRUMENT FOR INTEGRAL FIELD FAR-UV SPECTROSCOPY. BY UTILIZING A PAIR OF DIGITAL MICROMIRROR ARRAYS THIS CONCEPT INSTRUMENT WILL BE CAPABLE OF DISSECTING THE FOCAL PLANE AND RE-FORMING IT INTO A SERIES OF SLITSHAPES TO OVERCOME THE LIMITATIONS OF SPECTRAL CONFUSION. THE TRL OF THE SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY ESTIMATED AT ~2. WE EXPECT TO ADVANCE THE TRL TO ~4 THROUGH THIS PICASSO PROGRAM TO BE READY TO PROPOSE TO MATISSE FOR FOLLOW-ON WORK AND FURTHER TRL ADVANCEMENT.

$836,502FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Planetary Science Institute, Tucson AZ

Investigators

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