The scanning mechanism for ROSETTA/MIDAS: from an engineering model to the flight model

The MIDAS (Micro Imaging Dust Analysis System) [1] instrument jointly developed by IWF Graz (AT) and the Solar Space Division of ESA/ESTEC (NL) will flow on ROSETTA and will analyse the dust of the 46P/Wirtanen cometa using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). A piezoelectric XYZ stage, used to scan the sample in 3 axis, is part of the instrument and has been fully designed and qualified under the ESA/ESTEC contract n°13090/98/NL/MV. Two qualification models (EQM / QM) and two flight models (FM / FSM) have been integrated and fully tested within 18 months (Figure 1).