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Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA's F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum Δ V capability of 600 ms − 1 . Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes – B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 – that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission's science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IFAE/UAB Raman LIDAR project aims to develop a Raman LIDAR suitable for the online atmospheric calibration of the CTA. Requirements for such a solution include the ability to characterize aerosol extinction to distances of more than 20 km with an accuracy better than 5%, within time scales of less than one minute. The Raman LIDAR consists therefore of a large 1.8 m mirror and a powerful pulsed Nd-YAG laser. A liquid light-guide collects the light at the focal plane and transports it to the readout system. An in-house built polychromator has been characterized thoroughly with respect to its capability to separate effciently the different wavelengths (355 nm, 387 nm, 532 nm and 607 nm). It was found to operate according to specifications, particularly that light leakage from the elastic channels (532 nm and 355 nm) into the much dimmer Raman channels (387 nm and 607 nm) could be excluded to less than 2 × 10-7. We present here the status of the integration and commissioning of this solution and plans for the near future. After a one-year test period at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, an in-depth evaluation of this and the solutions adopted by a similar project developed by the LUPM, Montpellier, will lead to a final Raman LIDAR proposed to be built for both CTA sites.

We present the catadioptric optical design solution for the stereo channel of the imaging system SIMBIOSYS for the BepiColombo European Space Agency mission to Mercury. The main scientific objectives of the instrument are the three-dimensional global mapping of the entire surface of Mercury in the panchromatic band and imaging of selected areas in four broad colored bands; both tasks have to be accomplished with a scale factor of 50 m per pixel at periherm. The system consists of an original compact layout in which the two stereo subchannels share a common detector; also, the optical components are common to the two subchannels, with the exception of the first element, which is a rhomboid prism. The field of view of each subchannel is about 5[degrees] x 5[degrees] with a scale factor of 23 arcsec/pixel. The ray- tracing simulation of the system shows that the design guarantees optimal aberration balancing over the entire field of view and the entire wavelength range covered by the instrument, with ensquared energy of the order of 80% in one pixel. OCIS codes: 110.6770, 120.4570, 120.0280, 350.1260, 350.6090.

Adaptive optics (AO) has been recently used for the development of ophthalmic devices. Its main objective has been to obtain high-resolution images for diagnostic purposes or to estimate high-order eye aberrations. The core of every AO system is an optical device that is able to modify the wavefront shape of the light entering the system; if you know the shape of the incoming wavefront, it is possible to correct the aberrations introduced in the optical path from the source to the image. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility, although in a simulated system, of estimating and correcting an aberrated wavefront shape by means of an iterative gradient-descent-like software procedure, acting on a point source image, without expensive wavefront sensors or the burdensome computation of the point-spread-function (PSF) of the optical system. In such a way, it is possible to obtain a speed and repeatability advantage over classical stochastic algorithms. A hierarchy in the aberrations is introduced, in order to reduce the dimensionality of the state space to be searched. The proposed algorithm is tested on a simple optical system that has been simulated with ray-tracing software, with randomly generated aberrations, and compared with a recently proposed algorithm for wavefront sensorless adaptive optics. OCIS codes: 010.1080, 220.1000, 170.4470, 110.0110.

The description of an adaptive optics (AO) system with no wavefront sensor to correct primary aberrations is presented. This system is based on closed loop software that iteratively analyzes a point source target image on the instrument focal plane and suitably modifies the AO device. The performed tests with a pull-only deformable mirror (DM) have shown that the system works very well, reaching an optimal focusing condition in a few seconds using standard components. Such a system can be conveniently applied in all the fields in which a not very fast optical adaptation is acceptable. OCIS codes: 010.1080, 220.1000, 230.4040.

The design of a quasi-null lens system for the fabrication of an aspheric oblate convex ellipsoidal mirror is presented. The Performance and tolerance of the system have been analyzed. The system has been applied successfully for the fabrication of the primary mirror of the Wide Angle Camera (WAC), the imaging system onboard the Rosetta, the European Space Agency cornerstone mission dedicated to the exploration of a comet. The WAC is based on an off-axis two-mirror configuration, in which the primary mirror is an oblate convex ellipsoid with a significant conic constant. OCIS codes: 350.1260, 220.1000, 120.4610.

A spectroheliograph dedicated to the observation of the solar disk in the extreme-ultraviolet OV spectral line at 62.97 nm is described. As demonstrated in the Skylab SO-82A spectroheliograph [Appl. Opt. 16, 870 (1977)], this line is uniquely suited to characterize solar plasma in the important 250, 000 K temperature regime. No multilayer coating or suitable filter is yet available to select this wavelength, so an optical design based on a double spectrograph with a spatial filter to remove the unwanted radiation has been developed. Analysis of the optical design shows that this instrument can obtain a 1 arc-sec spatial resolution (two pixels) with a relatively high image-acquisition cadence. A preliminary tolerance analysis has been performed. A simple method of instrument alignment in visible light is also described. OCIS codes: 110.6770, 120.6200, 220.4830, 260.7200, 350.1260, 350.6090.

The final optical design of the Wide Angle Camera for the Rosetta mission to the P/Wirtanen comet is described. This camera is an F/5.6 telescope with a rather large 12 [degrees] x 12 [degrees] field of view. To satisfy the scientific requirements for spatial resolution, contrast capability, and spectral coverage, a two-mirror, off-axis, and unobstructed optical design, believed to be novel, has been adopted. This configuration has been simulated with a ray-tracing code, showing that theoretically more than 80% of the collimated beam energy falls within a single pixel (20' x 20') over the whole camera field of view and that the possible contrast ratio is smaller than 1/1000. Moreover, this novel optical design is rather simple from a mechanical point of view and is compact and relatively easy to align. All these characteristics make this type of camera rather flexible and also suitable for other space missions with similar performance requirements. OCIS codes: 110.6770, 120.4570, 220.2740, 220.4830, 350.1260, 350.6090.

Aims. Metis is the first solar coronagraph designed for a space mission and is capable of performing simultaneous imaging of the off-limb solar corona in both visible and UV light. The observations obtained with Metis aboard the Solar Orbiter ESA-NASA observatory will enable us to diagnose, with unprecedented temporal coverage and spatial resolution, the structures and dynamics of the full corona in a square field of view (FoV) of ±2.9° in width, with an inner circular FoV at 1.6°, thus spanning the solar atmosphere from 1.7 R⊙ to about 9 R⊙, owing to the eccentricity of the spacecraft orbit. Due to the uniqueness of the Solar Orbiter mission profile, Metis will be able to observe the solar corona from a close (0.28 AU, at the closest perihelion) vantage point, achieving increasing out-of-ecliptic views with the increase of the orbit inclination over time. Moreover, observations near perihelion, during the phase of lower rotational velocity of the solar surface relative to the spacecraft, allow longer-term studies of the off-limb coronal features, thus finally disentangling their intrinsic evolution from effects due to solar rotation. Methods. Thanks to a novel occultation design and a combination of a UV interference coating of the mirrors and a spectral bandpass filter, Metis images the solar corona simultaneously in the visible light band, between 580 and 640 nm, and in the UV H I Lyman-α line at 121.6 nm. The visible light channel also includes a broadband polarimeter able to observe the linearly polarised component of the K corona. The coronal images in both the UV H I Lyman-α and polarised visible light are obtained at high spatial resolution with a spatial scale down to about 2000 km and 15 000 km at perihelion, in the cases of the visible and UV light, respectively. A temporal resolution down to 1 s can be achieved when observing coronal fluctuations in visible light. Results. The Metis measurements, obtained from different latitudes, will allow for complete characterisation of the main physical parameters and dynamics of the electron and neutral hydrogen/proton plasma components of the corona in the region where the solar wind undergoes the acceleration process and where the onset and initial propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) take place. The near-Sun multi-wavelength coronal imaging performed with Metis, combined with the unique opportunities offered by the Solar Orbiter mission, can effectively address crucial issues of solar physics such as: the origin and heating/acceleration of the fast and slow solar wind streams; the origin, acceleration, and transport of the solar energetic particles; and the transient ejection of coronal mass and its evolution in the inner heliosphere, thus significantly improving our understanding of the region connecting the Sun to the heliosphere and of the processes generating and driving the solar wind and coronal mass ejections. Conclusions. This paper presents the scientific objectives and requirements, the overall optical design of the Metis instrument, the thermo-mechanical design, and the processing and power unit; reports on the results of the campaigns dedicated to integration, alignment, and tests, and to the characterisation of the instrument performance; describes the operation concept, data handling, and software tools; and, finally, the diagnostic techniques to be applied to the data, as well as a brief description of the expected scientific products. The performance of the instrument measured during calibrations ensures that the scientific objectives of Metis can be pursued with success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The STereo imaging Channel (STC) is the first push-frame stereo camera on board an European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, i.e., the ESA-Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency mission BepiColombo. It was launched in October 2018, and it will reach its target, Mercury, in 2025. The STC main aim is to provide the global three-dimensional reconstruction of the Mercury surface. STC, the stereo channel of spectrometer and imagers for Mercury Planetary Orbiter BepiColombo-Integrated Observatory System, is based on an original optical design that incorporates the advantages of a compact unique detector instrument and the convenience of a double direction acquisition system. In fact, STC operates in a push-frame imaging mode and its two optical sub-channels will converge the incoming light on a single focal plane assembly allowing to minimize mass and volume. The focal plane of the instrument is housing six different filters: two panchromatic filters in the range 600-800 nm and four broadband filters with central wavelengths in the range 420-920 nm. In this paper, the geometrical calibration of the instrument, including the optical setups used, will be described. The methods used to derive the focal lengths, the boresights, and the reference systems of the different filter models are presented, and the related distortion results are discussed. The STC off-axis configuration forced to develop a distortion map model based on the RFM (rational function model). In contrast to other existing models, which allow linear estimates, the RFM is not referred to specific lens geometry, but it is sufficiently general to model a variety of distortion types, as it will be demonstrated in this particular case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great amount of data that will be produced during the imaging of Mercury by the stereo camera (STC) of the BepiColombo mission needs a compromise with the restrictions imposed by the band downlink that could drastically reduce the duration and frequency of the observations. The implementation of an on-board real time data compression strategy preserving as much information as possible is therefore mandatory. The degradation that image compression might cause to the DTM accuracy is worth to be investigated. During the stereo-validation procedure of the innovative STC imaging system, several image pairs of an anorthosite sample and a modelled piece of concrete have been acquired under different illumination angles. This set of images has been used to test the effects of the compression algorithm (Langevin and Forni, 2000) on the accuracy of the DTM produced by dense image matching. Different configurations taking in account at the same time both the illumination of the surface and the compression ratio, have been considered. The accuracy of the DTMs is evaluated by comparison with a high resolution laser-scan acquisition of the same targets. The error assessment included also an analysis on the image plane indicating the influence of the compression procedure on the image measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the ongoing activities for the European space mission BepiColombo to Mercury, a new stereo-matching algorithm is here proposed: this algorithm uses deformable surfaces, or snakes, to find a dense disparity map. Subject to both external and internal forces, respectively represented by the similarity function and by smoothness constraints on the disparity map, a "deformable" disparity map evolves from an initial approximate state to an optimal one in which the algorithm has reached convergence. This algorithm is expected to provide one of the image matching tools for the Digital Terrain Model generation procedure that will be used by the BepiColombo stereo camera. To check the algorithm, tests have been performed on synthetic images derived from 3D models of geological features relevant to planetary science. The results show that it is possible to obtain an image measurement accuracy comparable to the one attainable with the Least Squares Matching algorithm. In addition, less object smoothing can be obtained since the object points are not derived by a large scale averaging over a terrain patch, as for example, in area-based methods; this means that more details of the terrain can be captured. Finally, because of the continuity constraint, this method is also expected to be robust in case of blunders in the reconstruction of the parallax field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After having observed the planets from his house in Padova using his telescope, in January 1611 Galileo wrote to Giuliano de Medici that Venus is moving around the Sun as Mercury. Forty years ago, Giuseppe Colombo, professor of Celestial Mechanics in Padova, made a decisive step to clarify the rotational period of Mercury. Today, scientists and engineers of the Astronomical Observatory of Padova and of the University of Padova, reunited in the Center for Space Studies and Activities (CISAS) named after Giuseppe Colombo, are busy to realize a stereo camera (STC) that will be on board the European (ESA) and Japanese (JAXA) space mission BepiColombo, devoted to the observation and exploration of the innermost planet. This paper will describe the stereo camera, which is one of the channels of the SIMBIOSYS instrument, aiming to produce the global mapping of the surface with 3D images. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]