Presentation + Paper
21 August 2024 Investigation of the energetic and radiative transfer properties of exospheric hydrogen with the Hydrogen Emission Line Interferometric eXplorer (HELIX)
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
The Hydrogen Emission Line Interferometric eXplorer (HELIX) is a SmallSat mission concept to study the vertical distribution and transport flux of geocoronal hydrogen that is transitioning from Earth’s upper atmosphere into the exosphere. This investigation is conducted using a dual channel, all-reflective Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer (SHS). A SHS is a type of Fourier Transform Spectrometer that divides incoming light into 2-beams with a diffraction grating that interfere to produce a linear fringe pattern from which spectral power is obtained. The HELIX SHS has a dual ruled grating that is can be simultaneously aligned to observe the Ly-α and Ly-β transitions of hydrogen. It has a spectral resolving power of ~200000 that separates the geocoronal lines from contaminating background emissions and allows exploration of the thermal and non-thermal populations of hydrogen. HELIX is designed for incorporation into a high-heritage SmallSat spacecraft platform that would be launched into low Earth orbit for a 12-month mission. This presentation describes the SHS concept, the mission requirements for HELIX, and the top-level on-orbit performance of the instrument.
Conference Presentation
(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
W. M. Harris, J. B. Corliss, R. Maciel, E. Mierkiewicz, D. Bhattacharyya, and G. A. Cucho-Padin "Investigation of the energetic and radiative transfer properties of exospheric hydrogen with the Hydrogen Emission Line Interferometric eXplorer (HELIX)", Proc. SPIE 13093, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2024: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 130930K (21 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019231
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KEYWORDS
Spectral resolution

Space operations

Interferometry

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