The infrared solar spectrum measured from the ground is difficult, if not impossible, outside the observation windows permitted by the Earth’s atmosphere. Existing solutions then call on modelling of the Sun, correction of ground measurements of atmospheric transmission or even measurements from space. This latter opportunity was seized with infrared observations from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) interplanetary probe orbiting MARS launched to study its atmosphere using spectrometers installed on its Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) platform. The spectrometer ACS-NIR (Near InfraRed) thus makes it possible to probe the Martian atmosphere in the 0.7-1.7 μm spectral domain thanks to its solar occultation mode. In this mode, the ACS-NIR is pointed toward the Sun and its line of sight gradually passes through MARS’ atmosphere as the satellite moves in its orbit. The high-resolution solar spectrum is directly measured when the line of sight is above the atmosphere. A 10-month observation plan (October 2020-August 2021) consisting of recording all diffraction orders from the ACS-NIR was specifically deployed for this objective. One of the main concerns we face when recovering the solar spectrum is spectral contamination of diffraction orders. We will first present how we processed the diffraction order images to obtain the best possible solar spectrum in the 0.7-1.7 μm band. We will show how the use of 3 off-centre images of the same diffraction order allows both to avoid spectral contamination and to improve the detection of solar lines at the ends of the order image where the intensity is low. We will then show the final version of the solar spectrum that we obtain which will be compared to the Toon spectrum taken as a reference. We will finish by addressing the parts of the spectrum which present solar lines located in spectral bands not observable from Earth and absent from the reference spectrum.
The ACS-NIR spectrometer aboard TGO is currently used to probe the atmosphere of Mars. ACS-NIR detects the spectral signature of atmospheric components along its line of sight as it passes through the atmosphere when the spectrometer points toward the Sun. The solar spectrum will be directly measured when the line of sight is above the atmosphere. Thus, observations were specifically requested to build the solar spectrum over the domain accessible by the ACS-NIR spectrometer but also to study its instrumental properties and their effects on the measurements. They consisted in recording all the images of the diffraction orders of ACS-NIR by continuously varying the frequency of its acousto-optical element, the AOTF. This second objective is the aim of this paper since the first has already been studied in detail in irbah et al. (2022). In particular, this previous paper presented the method and the different processing steps to avoid spectral contaminations between successive orders that occurs when constant AOTF frequencies are used for acquire them. This contamination is problematic in that it causes wavelengths to appear in a spectral band of a given diffraction order that actually come from its immediate neighbours. The constant AOTF frequencies are however used in the nominal mode of ACS-NIR during operations. They are chosen so that the orders are centred on the detector, i.e. in the image. The orders, however, present 2D intensity variations in particular along the x axis (wavelength) and, therefore, the spectral lines at the ends are poorly detected due to the low level of intensity. In this paper, we first recall the different processing steps to obtain the spectral bands associated with the diffraction orders. However, we have completed the original method by adding the correction of the diffraction orders of their 2D intensity variations, which improves the quality of the processing for obtaining the solar spectrum. We then present how to identify the spectral contributions of neighbouring orders to a given spectral band. Next, we present a new method that overcomes cross-order contamination by extracting two parts of images of the same diffraction order obtained with distinct AOTF frequencies. We show that this combination also brings a solution to the problem of the detection of spectral lines at the extremities where the intensity of the order is weak. Finally, we end by showing and discussing some promising results of the method obtained with the ACS-NIR order 101 taken as an example because it is likely to present spectral contamination. These results show that its neighbours no longer contaminate its spectral band. It is also of better quality compared to that calculated with the geometric method presented in the paper cited above. This method can be easily extended to all other orders, which will improve the solar spectrum obtained with ACS-NIR. It can also be used for ACS-NIR during operations without a noticeable increase in telemetry.
In this paper, we describe the concept of the Venus InfraRed Atmospheric Linker (VIRAL) spectrometer for investigation of the composition and structure of the planetary atmosphere at the top and above the cloud layer of Venus onboard the Venus Orbiter Mission announced by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). VIRAL includes two channels, an infrared echelle spectrometer channel and an ultra-high resolution heterodyne interferometer channel. Here, we present the concept of the echelle channel only. The instrument is designed to perform solar occultation, providing an optimal photon yield combined with a superior spectral resolving power that exceeds 20,000. VIRAL echelle spectrometer will cover the wavelength range from 2.3 to 4.3 μm, and achieve high vertical resolution (with a footprint of about 1 km at the limb) to allow the detailed altitude profiling of the Venusian upper atmosphere with its composition and structure. We present the instrument concept, its preliminary optical design and science objectives of the experiment.
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