project PACS Grating Drive Mechanism

PACS Grating Drive Mechanism for HERSCHEL

AMOS has been awarded by ESA to design and manufacture the PACS Grating Drive Mechanism. PACS embarked on-oard the HERSCHEL spacecraft launched by an ARIANE V in 2007.

The Grating Assembly consisted of a flat 320×80 mm2 ruled grating, its positioning mechanism and its launch-lock. The grating is actuated by a cryogenic motor with a resolution of a few arcsec and will be installed into the PACS focal plane unit.

Conception and design has been realised to meet severe requirement for an on-board experiment working at cryogenic temperatures. The “Grating Assembly” is strongly lightweighted (3,77 Kg) and composed of Stainless Steel as well as Aluminium 6061T6.

Motorized diffraction gratings at the heart of the Herschel satellite

PACS Grating Drive Mechanism

Published on 28.09.2018
Share on
→ see all Projects