PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars)1 is the M3 class ESA mission dedicated to the discovery
and study of extrasolar planetary systems by means of planetary transits detection. PLATO Payload Camera
units are integrated and vibrated at CSL before being TVAC tested for thermal acceptance and performance
verification at 3 different test facilities (SRON, IAS and INTA). 15 of the 26 Flight Cameras were integrated,
tested and delivered to ESA for integration by the Prime between June 2023 and June 2024, with the remaining
flight units to be tested by the end of 2024. In this paper, we provide an overview of our serial testing approach,
some of the associated challenges, key performance results and an up-to-date status on the remaining planned
activities.
Gilles Durand, Pascal Tremblin, Vincent Minier, Yann Reinert, Christophe Leroy dos Santos, Louis Rodriguez, Xavier Joffrin, Maurizio Busso, Gino Tosti, Giuliano Nucciarelli, Mauro Dolci, Oscar Straniero, Angelo Valentini, Carlos Abia, Jean Marc Christille, Eric Doumayrou, Michel Lortholary, Patrice Charron, Paul Lotrus, Christian Walter, Samuel Ronayette, Zalpha Challita, Laurent Fromont, Mathieu Condamin, Min Kyong Kwon, Daniele Tavagnacco
We illustrate the status of the international infra-red telescope IRAIT-ITM, a project developed thanks to an Italian- Spanish-French collaboration and now sited at the Dome C Antarctic base. The telescope and its subsystems were installed at DomeC by a team of Italian and French scientists. The 80 cm telescope is placed on a small snow hill next to a laboratory of astronomy. The operations started in January 2013, with the Nasmyth focal planes equipped with the midinfrared camera AMICA for 1.25 to 25 μm and the sub-millimetre camera CAMISTIC for observation of the sky noise at 200 and 350 μm using a bolometer camera. During 2013 the two winter-overs worked mainly on technological duties, learning how to operate the telescope, while temperatures decreased down to -80°C. The cryogenic systems could be operated respectively at 0.25K and 4K at all times, with satisfactory use of the heat from the compressors of the cryocoolers to the warm-up the laboratory through a closed loop glycol system. The lack of tests and reliability in extreme conditions of some components and difficult access to maintenance hampered regular observations below -50°C. Using the lessons of this first winter, the summer team improves the robustness of the failing systems and ease the access to maintenance. The winter 2014 is the first one with programmed observations. Because of power restrictions, the two instruments are used each one at a time by periods of 2 weeks. The Camistic camera continues to observe the stability of the sky at a fixed altitude in chopping mode and performs skydips. The TCS is being upgraded in order to prepare the next summer season with extensive observations of the sun with Camistic.
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