High Performance Near and Far Ultraviolet Camera for Star Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS)

Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) observatory is a funded mission by NASA’s Astrophysics CubeSat Program. A 6U CubeSat led by Arizona State University, SPARCS objective is to provide the UV context for the atmospheric signatures of planets in the habitable zone of M dwarf stars. In depth characterization of the UV environments of M dwarf planets will be crucial to understanding the effects of the star activities on planet atmospheric composition and will help to delineate biological and abiotic sources for observed biosignatures. SPARCS is designed for observation of M stars in two spectral bands in the near ultraviolet (NUV, 260-300 nm) and far ultraviolet (FUV, 150-170 nm). NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for delivery of the two channel UV camera, SPARCam.

Two 2D-doped CCDs optimized for NUV and FUV are the enabling technology of SPARCam. The NUV detector uses a custom antireflection (AR) coating to achieve ~ 70% external quantum efficiency (QE). The FUV detector incorporates an integrated filter and is designed to maximize the in-band FUV sensitivity (QE>35% ) and reduce the out of band detection (better than two orders of magnitude ≥OD2 red leak suppression). Comparing these detector performances with previously flown microchannel plate-based detectors, a factor of five improvement is achieved in the overall throughput of the system.

We will present a brief overview of SPARCS and the SPARCam architecture with focus on the high-performance UV detectors for the far ultraviolet and near ultraviolet channels.