Planetary Integrated Camera Spectrometer (PICS): a new approach to developing a self-sequencing, integrated, multiwavelength instrument

The planetary integrated camera-spectrometer, PICS, is a highly integrated sensor system which performs the functions of three optical instruments: a near infrared (IR) spectrometer, a visible imaging camera, and an ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer. Integration serves to minimize the mass and power required to operate a complex suite of instruments, and automatically yields a comprehensive data set, optimized for correlative analysis. This approach is useful for deep space missions such as Pluto Express and will also enable Galileo/Cassini class remote observations of any object within the solar system. In our baseline concept, a single set of lightweight multiwavelength foreoptics is shared by a UV imaging spectrometer (80 spectral channels 70 - 150 nm), a two-CCD visible imaging system (shuttered in two colors 300 - 500 nm and 500 - 1000 nm), and a near-IR imaging spectrometer (256 spectral channels 1300-2600 nm). The entire structure, including its optics, is built from silicon carbide (SiC) for thermal and dimensional stability. In addition, there are no moving parts and each spectrometer covers a single octave in wavelength. A separate port is provided for measurement of a UV solar occultation and for spectral radiance calibration of the IR and visible subsystems. The integrated science that the PICS will yield meets or exceeds all of the Priority-1A science objectives, and many Priority 1-B science objectives as well, for the Pluto Express Mission. This paper provides details of the PICs instrument design, fabrication and testing, both at the sub-assembly and the instrument level. In all tests, including optical, thermal vacuum, and structural/dynamics, the PICS hardware prototype met or exceeded functional requirements.