Physics – Instrumentation and Detectors
Scientific paper
2008-11-28
AIP Conf.Proc.1144:91-101,2009
Physics
Instrumentation and Detectors
11 pages
Scientific paper
10.1063/1.3169310
The neutral sensor ELENA (Emitted Low-Energy Neutral Atoms) for the ESA cornerstone BepiColombo mission to Mercury (in the SERENA instrument package) is a new kind of low energetic neutral atoms instrument, mostly devoted to sputtering emission from planetary surfaces, from E ~20 eV up to E~5 keV, within 1-D (2x76 deg). ELENA is a Time-of-Flight (TOF) system, based on oscillating shutter (operated at frequencies up to a 100 kHz) and mechanical gratings: the incoming neutral particles directly impinge upon the entrance with a definite timing (START) and arrive to a STOP detector after a flight path. After a brief dissertation on the achievable scientific objectives, this paper describes the instrument, with the new design techniques approached for the neutral particles identification and the nano-techniques used for designing and manufacturing the nano-structure shuttering core of the ELENA sensor. The expected count-rates, based on the Hermean environment features, are shortly presented and discussed. Such design technologies could be fruitfully exported to different applications for planetary exploration.
Austin Chris
Cerulli-Irelli P.
Dandouras Iannis
de Angelis Elisabetta
Di Lellis Andrea Maria
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