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Building Infrared Instruments to Explore a Virgin Comet, with Dr Fraser Clark
With Dr Fraser Clark, Space Instrumentation Programme Manager at Oxford University. ESA's Comet Interceptor mission, due to launch by the end of the decade, is a novel concept to chase down and explore a dynamically new comet — i.e. one which has never been into the inner solar system before - and Oxford University is building one of the instruments for this mission.
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Such an object should be compositionally representative of the primordial make-up of the early solar system, without the effects of 4.6bn years of solar processing, and therefore give unique insights into the starting points of our solar systems history. The University of Oxford will be building for this mission MIRMIS, an infrared multi-spectral imager covering 0.9 to 20 microns, which itself is made up of three separate modules. The instrument is now in the final integration phase, and by the time of this talk should be largely complete and ready to start testing.
Dr Clark will give an overview of the mission, concentrating on the development of the thermal infrared instrument (which involves Durham-made optics!). He'll also explore the past, present, and future of the core instrument concept : which includes Earth observation, Lunar prospecting, and - perhaps - searching for life on icy moons.
Biography of the speaker
Fraser Clarke has been a ground-based astronomer for over thirty years, moving through a career in research, observatory operations, and instrument building and development. For last decade he was centrally involved in the development of the HARMONI instrument for the ELT. A few years ago, he moved off the ground to take up technical leadership of the University of Oxford's Space Instrumentation group. This group has a long history of building flight hardware, including an interesting mix of research and commercial developments.