Mr. Nicolas Saillen Profile

Nicolas Saillen

at European Space Agency

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Author

Publications (6)

Proceedings Article | 19 October 2023 Presentation + Paper

ALTIUS atmospheric limb sounding mission, a novel hyperspectral imager

N. Saillen, L. Aballea, G. Petitjean, D. Buhler, L. Montrone, D. Navarro Reyes, M. Francois, D. Mollet, M. Creemers, J. De Smet, C. Pollier, J. Naudet, A. Famelear

Proceedings Volume 12729, 127290C (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2680091

KEYWORDS: Equipment, Acoustooptic tunable filters, Near infrared, Optical filters, Mirrors, Calibration, Signal to noise ratio

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Proceedings Article | 19 October 2023 Presentation + Paper

A numerical model for the ALTIUS instrument performance assessment

D. Göhner, N. Saillen, D. Buhler, L. Aballea, L. Montrone, D. Navarro, M. Francois

Proceedings Volume 12729, 127291A (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2680610

KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Instrument modeling, Signal to noise ratio, Acoustooptic tunable filters, Optical filters, Design and modelling, Bandpass filters, Spectral response, Performance modeling

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Proceedings Article | 12 July 2023 Open Access

Technological innovation for the ALTIUS atmospheric limb sounding mission: steps towards flight

N. Saillen, L. Aballea, D. Buhler, L. Montrone, D. Navarro Reyes, M. Francois, W. Moelans, T. Verstrynge, D. Mollet, F. Morel, C. Pollier, J. Naudet, L. Dayers, A. Famelaer, J. Bouten

Proceedings Volume 12777, 127770I (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2688821

KEYWORDS: Ultraviolet radiation, Design and modelling, Near infrared, Equipment, Optical filters, Mirrors, Optical coatings, Astronomical imaging, Bandpass filters, Stray light

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Proceedings Article | 12 July 2023 Open Access

ALTIUS instrument: a study of scattering effects

J. Moreno-Ventas, W. Moelans, A. Mazzoli, L. Aballea, P. Blain, E. Mazy, L. Clermont, N. Saillen, L. Montrone, M. Francois

Proceedings Volume 12777, 127771N (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2689672

KEYWORDS: Stray light, Polarizers, Acoustooptic tunable filters, Equipment, Ultraviolet radiation, Design and modelling, Mirrors, Astronomical imaging, Optical design, Optical surfaces

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ALTIUS is the next ESA limb-sounding mission for monitoring of stratospheric ozone at high vertical resolution and of NOx molecules and aerosols. With a platform based on the PROBA-NEXT concept flying in a Sun-Synchronous orbit, the data provided by the ALTIUS Mission will support the scientific community addressing key questions related to atmospheric chemistry composition and climate changes. The ALTIUS Instrument features wavelength-tuning capabilities in the UV (250-355nm), VIS (440-675 nm) and NIR (600-1020) bands using a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) stack in the UV band and an Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter technologies (AOTF) in the VIS and NIR bands. This Instrument topology allows ALTIUS to perform 2D imaging with high resolution in the vertical profile of the Earth limb. The optical layout of 2D imagers, characterized by a more extensive field of view (FOV), makes them more susceptible to stray light issues in comparison to more conventional optical designs such as grating systems. These particular design aspects in combination with the use of novel technologies (FPI’s and AOTF’s) and the irradiance distribution of the observed bright limb scenes makes the stray light prediction very interesting and complex. An accurate modelling of scatter contributors involving optical and mechanical surfaces is, therefore, required. Due to the cost-effective model philosophy applied for the ALTIUS Instrument, no hardware model is available for stray light correlation purposes prior to the Instrument Proto-flight. Hence, a study was performed to benchmark the stray light analyses results obtained with Optic Studio with the ones obtained with FRED. This paper provides a description of the optical modelling features of the ALTIUS Instrument with specific attention to the novel optical devices, AOTF and FPI stack. It also addresses the particularities and differences observed when modelling the Instrument using two different commercial optical design suites. A comparison of scattered stray light computations for the ALTIUS Instrument ran in OpticStudio and FRED is also presented highlighting reflections on modelling approach and used mathematical models, with an outlook on consistency at L1. Finally, lessons learned from this exercise are presented along with the conclusions and plans for future work. Additional presentation content can be accessed on the supplemental content page.

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Proceedings Article | 10 October 2019 Presentation + Paper

Technological innovation for the ALTIUS atmospheric limb sounding mission

L. Montrone, L. Aballea, D. Bernaerts, D. Navarro-Reyes, S. Santandrea, N. Saillen, K. Sarna, P. Holbrouck, W. Moelans, D. Kendall, D. Mollet, R. De Nutte, S. Demidov, H. Saari, J. Ward, R. Kassel, D. Fussen, E. Dekemper, E. Neefs, J. Vanhamel

Proceedings Volume 11151, 111510S (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2533151

KEYWORDS: Ultraviolet radiation, Design for manufacturability, Manufacturing, Atmospheric monitoring, Ozone, Earth's atmosphere, Near infrared, CMOS sensors, Stratosphere, Satellites

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The ALTIUS Mission (Atmospheric Limb Tracker for Investigation of the Upcoming Stratosphere) aims at the development of a limb sounder based on a small satellite concept (i.e. PROBA-Next small platform).

ALTIUS will monitor the distribution and evolution of stratospheric ozone at high vertical resolution in support of operational services and long term trend monitoring. It will provide detailed stratospheric profile information at high vertical resolution, which is a valuable addition to ozone total column for data assimilation systems based on nadir sounders used by operational centers. In addition, some secondary scientific mission objectives are targeted, including measurements of vertical concentration profiles of other atmospheric species.

The ALTIUS Mission was first proposed by the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy and, after several studies in different programmes within ESA, is now being developed as an element of ESA’s Earth Watch Programme currently with the participation of Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg and Romania.

The ALTIUS Mission concept consists of three spectral imagers flying at an altitude of approximately 700 km Sun- Synchronous Orbit on-board the next generation of PROBA platform. The ALTIUS Instrument shall allow observation of the Earth’s atmospheric bright limb in an extended spectral region from the Ultraviolet to the Short Wave Infrared (SWIR). In addition, the ALTIUS instrument shall perform solar and stellar occultation observations in the dark limb.

The ALTIUS Instrument three hyperspectral channels are based respectively on Acousto-Optic Tuneable Filters (AOTFs) in the Visible (440-800nm) and SWIR (900-1800nm) range, and a cascade of Fabry Perot Interferometers (FPI) in the UV (250-370nm). The use of tuneable active spectral filter shall allow the ALTIUS Instrument to perform observations with a spectral resolution ranging between 1nm and 10nm in an extremely versatile operational concept.

The use of the AOTFs and Fabry Perot technologies constitutes a novelty in the limb sounding missions and its development critical aspects as well as its performances have been proven in the frame of an extensive Instrument predevelopment phase.

In this phase the critical technologies necessary to ensure the performance and functionalities of the ALTIUS Instrument have been designed, developed and qualified. In particular the following pre-developments were undertaken to pave the way towards Instrument Preliminary Design Review:

Design, manufacturing and qualification of the VIS AOTF Assembly and RF control electronics;

Design, manufacturing and qualification of the UV FPI assembly stack and control electronics;

Development and qualification of UV filters and coatings.

Design and manufacturing of sensor electronics based on selected CMOS sensor for UV and VIS channels;

Design, manufacturing and partial qualification of the Instrument mechanism;

Bread-boarding of the full VIS channel for functionality and end-to-end performances verification.

This paper presents the status and main results of the above-mentioned ALTIUS Instrument pre-development activities. In particular: major outcomes during the development process, achieved performances and lessons learned for the continuation of the ALTIUS Instrument flight model design are being highlighted.

Proceedings Article | 14 April 2011 Paper

Laboratory validation of MEMS-based sensors for post-earthquake damage assessment

Matteo Pozzi, Daniele Zonta, Juan Santana, Mikael Colin, Nicolas Saillen, Tom Torfs, Angelos Amditis, Matthaios Bimpas, Yorgos Stratakos, Dumitru Ulieru, Dimitirs Bairaktaris, Stamatia Frondistou-Yannas, Vasilis Kalidromitis

Proceedings Volume 7981, 79810Y (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882015

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Sensing systems, Metals, Earthquakes, Microelectromechanical systems, Sensor performance, Prototyping, Calibration, Data acquisition, Algorithm development

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