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In-flight commissioning and calibration of the Ariel satellite mission
Ariel is a European Space Agency M-class mission to be launched in 2029. Its objective is to measure the spectra of ~1000 exoplanet atmospheres in order to better understand the chemical composition of both planets and their atmospheres and provide a better understanding of planetary origin in different stellar systems. The payload of Ariel consists of two instrument blocks. The first instrument consists of 3 photometric channels to monitor stellar variability and provide accurate pointing information to the satellite as well as a Near-infrared spectrometer. The second instrument consists of two IR spectrometers reaching a wavelength of 8 microns which will detect a range of molecular signatures of interest. The instruments will undergo thorough testing throughout the build phase in the respective institutes
contributing to the payload prior to launch, but will subsequently require a detailed testing procedure once launched during the commissioning phase.
This project aims to model the instrument in detail and design a comprehensive set of tests which the instruments will have to perform after launch and before entering the nominal science operation period.
Experience in optics, spectroscopy and detector physics is beneficial.
Contact: Prof Giorgio Savini (g.savini AT ucl.ac.uk)
The opto-mechanical design and modelling of the next generation wide field multi-object spectroscopic telescope
The Wide-Field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) is a concept for an 11-m diameter seeing-limited telescope providing two concentric fields of view for simultaneous Multi-Object Spectroscopy (MOS) and Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) in the wavelength range is 0.35-1.6 μm. The MOS system would allow the measurement of many thousands of simultaneously observed astronomical objects for deep survey projects over a wide field of view (1.5 degree) whilst the IFS mode would give high resolution spatial and spectral information over a small field of view.
UCL has recently been successful, as part of a European collaboration, in receiving funds from the European Commission’s Horizon 2024 call to develop a preliminary design of the WST. The work will span three years and aim to produce a costed proposal for detailed design and construction, for the European Southern Observatory to consider as its next major project after the completion of the Extremely Large Telescope (which is due first light in 2028). The proposed PhD work at UCL would concentrate on the opto-mechanical design and modelling of the wide field corrector optical system (made of several large metre sized lenses), building on UCL’s experience in such systems.
Contact: Prof Peter Doel (apd AT star.ucl.ac.uk)