UK ATC Participation in SPIRE
The UK ATC is part of a consortium of 15 institutes in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and the USA which was formed to build SPIRE and which is lead by Dr M. Griffin of Queen Mary and Westfield College in London. In collaboration with other institutes the UK ATC participated in starting the project up and developing the overall instrument design, and made major contributions to the initial opto-mechanical design of the photometer channels (ie. the camera optics and layout), for the layout of the FTS and the concepts for the chopper.
Now that the work of detailed design and building of the instrument is underway the project has been divided into work-packages which are carried out at the various institutes within the consortium. The UK ATC will be responsible for the design, testing and manufacture of the Beam Steering Mirror mechanism. We will also contribute to the focal plane systems engineering, a key role in ensuring that the final instrument performance will meet the astronomical requirements. The SPIRE systems design will build on the experience and understanding of far-infrared and sub-millimetre instruments which the UK ATC gained in building SCUBA.