SAFARI imaging spectrometer

The SAFARI imaging spectrometer[1] was the European image sensor of Japanese infrared telescope SPICA (Space Infra-Red Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics telescope) and is being developed under the leadership of SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. SAFARI is an infrared camera with about 6,000 pixels that can make real ‘photos’ of the sky in three adjacent wavelength areas. Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) obtains detailed spectral information, allowing astronomers to determine the chemical composition of the observed celestial sources.[2] The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) is developing the mechanism of this FTS.

Transition Edge Sensors (TES) detectors are extremely sensitive infrared detectors

SRON's leading role in the development of SAFARI is mainly due to the infrared detectors developed by SRON scientists. Extremely sensitive detectors must be used in SAFARI to gain maximum benefit from the low infrared emissions of SPICA's cooled mirror. In June 2010, an international evaluation committee selected, out of four different technologies, the transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors from SRON together with the associated readout electronics.

  1. ^ Goicoechea, J. R.; Isaak, K.; Swinyard, B. (2009). "Exoplanet research with SAFARI: A far-IR imaging spectrometer for SPICA". arXiv:0901.3240 [astro-ph.EP].
  2. ^ Roelfsema, Peter; et al. "SAFARI Imaging Spectrometer for the SPICA space observatory" (PDF). Netherlands Institute for Space Research.