| Institution: | 1.Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326,Marseille Cedex 13,France;2.Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias,La Laguna,Spain;3.Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt (DLR),Berlin,Germany;4.Department of Physics and Astronomy,Uppsala University,Uppsala,Sweden;5.Université de Nice Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la C?te d’Azur,Nice,France;6.Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES),Toulouse,France;7.Planetary and Space Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences,The Open University,Milton Keynes,UK;8.Laboratoire d’études Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Université Paris Diderot,Meudon,France;9.Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques,Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy,France;10.Department of Astronomy,University of Maryland,College Park,USA |
| Abstract: | We present THERMAP, a mid-infrared spectro-imager for space missions to small bodies in the inner solar system, developed in the framework of the MarcoPolo-R asteroid sample return mission. THERMAP is very well suited to characterize the surface thermal environment of a NEO and to map its surface composition. The instrument has two channels, one for imaging and one for spectroscopy: it is both a thermal camera with full 2D imaging capabilities and a slit spectrometer. THERMAP takes advantage of the recent technological developments of uncooled microbolometer arrays, sensitive in the mid-infrared spectral range. THERMAP can acquire thermal images (8–18 μm) of the surface and perform absolute temperature measurements with a precision better than 3.5 K above 200 K. THERMAP can acquire mid-infrared spectra (8–16 μm) of the surface with a spectral resolution Δλ of 0.3 μm. For surface temperatures above 350 K, spectra have a signal-to-noise ratio >60 in the spectral range 9–13 μm where most emission features occur. |
