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Optical Imagers

ePOP Fast Auroral Imager (FAI)

ROUTES ASTROEngineering has been contracted by the University of Calgary to help design the Fast Auroral Imager of the CASSIOPE ePOP mission. The FAI consists of two CCD camera units, one a near-IR (650-1100 nm) and the other a narrow band visible light (630nm). Routes is designing the structures to mount the two optical assemblies and their pre-amp boards, as well as the enclosure containing the instrument electronics.

Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT)

The UVIT instrument is part of the ASTROSAT mission, which will carry UV and X-ray instruments on a common spacecraft. UVIT consists of a pair of telescopes of approximately 40 cm aperture which feed three imaging detectors of approximately 27 arcminute fields. One telescope feeds the FUV (120-180nm) detector and the second telescope feeds the NUV (180-300nm) and VIS (300-650nm) detectors. The detectors will be photon-counting devices. Multi-waveband investigation of scientific fields of view will be accomplished by the co-alignment of most of the ASTROSAT instruments, including the two UVIT telescopes.  More details...

Routes is designing the mechanical structure, cameras and associated Readout Electronics and spacecraft interfaces; and performing the assembly, integration and testing for the two UVIT telescopes. This work is being performed for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organization. This is leveraging our experience in creating low-noise electronics for detectors and mechanical structures to house optics.

Stratospheric Wind Interferometer For Transport (SWIFT)

SWIFT is a Canadian space borne instrument that will provide simultaneous vertical profiles of stratospheric winds and ozone density on a global basis.  SWIFT is a field-widened, imaging interferometer that will measure winds in the stratosphere using Doppler shifts of an ozone thermal emission line in the mid-IR region near 9 mm.  The instrument is being built by EMS Technologies Canada and York University. SWIFT is currently under Canadian Space Agency Phase B study for potential flight on a Canadian small satellite to be launched in late 2009.

Routes has been contracted by EMS Technologies to design the Electronics Unit (EU).  The EU consists of a space-qualified microprocessor; high-performance Readout Electronics for controlling and digitizing the detector outputs; and a series of interface circuits to connect the processor with various actuators and sensors.

Hyperspectral  Environment and Resource Observer (HERO)

In the last decade, hyperspectral remote sensing has become a powerful tool in addressing issues in forestry, environmental monitoring and restoration of the ecology and coastal zones, agriculture, geology, and oil and gas exploration.  The Canadian Space Agency is currently working on mission design concepts for Canada’s first hyperspectral earth observation satellite, planned for launch in 2008.

As part of an industry team, Routes is under contract to EMS Technologies to produce the breadboard electronics for the detector.

Optical Spectrograph and Infra-Red Imaging System (OSIRIS)

OSIRIS is a space-borne instrument for monitoring ozone concentration and various upper atmospheric pollutants. This instrument was built by ROUTES ASTROEngineering under contract from the Canadian Space Agency, and was launched in February of 2001 on the Swedish Odin spacecraft. It forms part of a cooperative program between Sweden, Canada, Finland, and France.

OSIRIS is an environmental science instrument. As part of the Odin mission, it is used to study atmospheric dynamic processes in the middle atmosphere from altitudes of 15 to 120 km. In the aeronomy mode, OSIRIS points at Earth's limb and measures atmospheric molecular concentrations associated with ozone chemistry, including NO2, BrO, OClO, NO3, O3 and possibly ClO.  For more information, visit ORISIS web.

FREJA

FREJA is a sun spinner satellite that imaged the aurora and measured particles and fields in the upper ionosphere and lower magnetosphere. The FREJA satellite, launched in October 1992, enjoyed a successful four year mission. Routes involvement in FREJA was as the prime contractor for the F5 instrument. F5 was an auroral imager that contained two cameras. Routes designed and fabricated the backend electronics for the cameras and the power conditioning electronics.  For more information on the Freja satellite and the mission, visit the Swedish Space Corporation web site.

MOST

Radio Frequency Instruments

OEDIPUS C

Routes and CAL Corporation (now called EMS Technologies) jointly designed and built the transmit and receive payload portions of the plasma diagnostic instrument flown on a sub-orbital rocket launched from Poker Flats, Alaska.

The OEDIPUS C instrument was a double payload connected by a conducting wire. The two tethered payloads were separated by a distance of 1.2 kilometers during the sixteen minutes it took for it to re-enter through the atmosphere. A suite of scientific equipment was used to investigate the physics of the upper atmosphere during re-entry.

Simulators and Calibration Systems

Starfield Simulator:  Routes, in conjunction with CRESTech, APS (Toronto) and EHR Optics (Victoria, BC), developed a state-of-the art optical assembly to test satellite star-trackers. Routes is capable of providing star-tracker test assemblies with custom engineering as needed to suit customer requirements.

Ultra-Violet Calibration Ground Support Equipment:  Routes developed the electro-optical calibration equipment for the ultra-violet imagers for Freja and UVAI.