Euclid near infrared spectrophotometer instrument concept and first test results at the end of phase B

The Euclid mission objective is to understand why the expansion of the Universe is accelerating by mapping the geometry of the dark Universe by investigating the distance-redshift relationship and tracing the evolution of cosmic structures. The Euclid project is part of ESA's Cosmic Vision program with its launch planned for 2020. The NISP (Near Infrared Spectro-Photometer) is one of the two Euclid instruments and is operating in the near-IR spectral region (0.9-2μm) as a photometer and spectrometer. The instrument is composed of: - a cold (135K) optomechanical subsystem consisting of a SiC structure, an optical assembly (corrector and camera lens), a filter wheel mechanism, a grism wheel mechanism, a calibration unit and a thermal control system - a detection subsystem based on a mosaic of 16 Teledyne HAWAII2RG cooled to 95K with their front-end readout electronic cooled to 140K, integrated on a mechanical focal plane structure made with Molybdenum and Aluminum. The detection subsystem is mounted on the optomechanical subsystem structure - a warm electronic subsystem (280K) composed of a data processing / detector control unit and of an instrument control unit that interfaces with the spacecraft via a 1553 bus for command and control and via Spacewire links for science data This presentation describes the architecture of the instrument at the end of the phase B (Preliminary Design Review), the expected performance, the technological key challenges and preliminary test results obtained on a detection system demonstration model.