The Corot Space instrument

1
The Corot Space instrument
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Description of the Corot mission

• Corot is a small mission of the CNES integrated
  on the PROTEUS spacecraft, launched by a Soyuz
  in mid-2006.
• Mass 300kg / Power 300W / Polar Orbit
  896km / Life Time 2.5 years
• 3 French laboratories involved LESIA, LAM and
  IAS
• With collaborations Belgium, Spain, Austria,
  Brazil,
• Two scientific objectives
• Asteroseismology studying the internal
  structure of stars
• Exoplanet search (transit).
• The instrument
• Afocal telescope (2 parabolic mirrors off axis).
• Camera dioptric objective, focal plane with 4
  E2V CCDs 4280.
• Electronics CCD readout, thermal control, data
  processing
• On board software.

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The Camera of Corot.

• Main components of the Camera
• The Dioptric Objective, made of 6 lens, images
  the FOV on the CCDs.
• The Focal-Box contains the CCDs, the prism and
  the active thermal control of the CCDs
• The front End Electronics generate the clocks
  and the bias voltages for the CCDs.
• The thermal drains allow the cooling of the CCDs
  and the front end electronic (to dedicated
  radiators).
• The mechanical interface sets the CCDs to
  achieve the optimal de-focus.
• The Shield protects the CCDs against protons and
  cosmic rays.
• Thermal components like MLI, thermal probes and
  heaters allow the thermal control.

4
Tests performed.
Thermal Validation of the internal and
external interfaces. Validation of the active
thermal control of the Focal-Box. Validation
of the passive thermal control of Electronic.
House-Keeping reference. Optical Validation
of the CCDs positions inside the focal-box and
gap between the two parts of the field. Effect
of DO temperature on the shape of the PSF.
Dispersion of prism. Absolute transmission of
the camera at different wavelengths. Electrical
Readout noise of and cross-talking between
two CCD outputs. Electro-Magnetic-Compatibility
test with all the flight electronics. Calibratio
n long term experiment.
Status flight model delivered and integrated on
the telescope for final optical set-up.