The Entire Visible Sky (EnVisS) instrument is an all-sky camera designed to fly on Comet Interceptor, the first ESA Fast class mission, whose scientific task is to encounter and explore a Dynamically New Comet and which is foreseen to be launched by the end of 2029. The EnVisS camera aims to image, in push-frame mode, the whole comet coma in the visible spectrum. One of the key elements to study the radiance and the polarization properties of the comet coma diffused light is the instrument’s filter strip assembly. This filter package (which has been designed by the CNR-IFN of Padova and Leonardo SpA of Campi Bisenzio, Florence) is conceived to be composed of three filter strips glued side by side, having the same thickness but different optical properties. The central strip is a high transmission broadband filter in the range 550-800 nm with no polarization properties, while the side ones are linear polarization filters with the same transmission bandpass as the broadband and with polarization axis at 45° from one another. In the CNR-IFN laboratories, some characterization activities for evaluating the performance of the filter strip assembly are going on. The first activity performed has been to establish the best polarizing filter candidate, i.e. the one having the most fitting properties for the fish-eye camera scientific purposes and, at the same time, that is well-suited for space applications. For each filter sample considered, transmissivity and reflectivity have been measured in different configurations, then compared with the other filters’ ones and with the characteristics provided by the manufacturer. The activity foreseen for the next phase of the instrument development is a further characterization of the selected polarizers and, possibly, measurements on the qualification model, or samples, produced during the qualification of the filter package FEM model. The EnVisS filter strip assembly will be manufactured by the Materion company. In this paper the tested filters and the performed analysis will be thoroughly described, as well as the obtained results.
Characterization measurements for the realization of the Filter Strip Assembly of the EnVisS camera
Naletto C.
;Senter L.;Zaccariotto M.;
2025
Abstract
The Entire Visible Sky (EnVisS) instrument is an all-sky camera designed to fly on Comet Interceptor, the first ESA Fast class mission, whose scientific task is to encounter and explore a Dynamically New Comet and which is foreseen to be launched by the end of 2029. The EnVisS camera aims to image, in push-frame mode, the whole comet coma in the visible spectrum. One of the key elements to study the radiance and the polarization properties of the comet coma diffused light is the instrument’s filter strip assembly. This filter package (which has been designed by the CNR-IFN of Padova and Leonardo SpA of Campi Bisenzio, Florence) is conceived to be composed of three filter strips glued side by side, having the same thickness but different optical properties. The central strip is a high transmission broadband filter in the range 550-800 nm with no polarization properties, while the side ones are linear polarization filters with the same transmission bandpass as the broadband and with polarization axis at 45° from one another. In the CNR-IFN laboratories, some characterization activities for evaluating the performance of the filter strip assembly are going on. The first activity performed has been to establish the best polarizing filter candidate, i.e. the one having the most fitting properties for the fish-eye camera scientific purposes and, at the same time, that is well-suited for space applications. For each filter sample considered, transmissivity and reflectivity have been measured in different configurations, then compared with the other filters’ ones and with the characteristics provided by the manufacturer. The activity foreseen for the next phase of the instrument development is a further characterization of the selected polarizers and, possibly, measurements on the qualification model, or samples, produced during the qualification of the filter package FEM model. The EnVisS filter strip assembly will be manufactured by the Materion company. In this paper the tested filters and the performed analysis will be thoroughly described, as well as the obtained results.
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