This paper summarizes the main aspects of the design and qualification test results of the secondary mirror mechanism for the VISTA Telescope. A design overview is presented, with detailed description of the main aspects of the system including the electromechanical part and the control system. Also a description of the test facilities and test methodologies is provided prior to the presentation and discussion of the performance test results.

JEM-EUSO is a space observatory that will be attached to the Japanese module of the International Space Station (ISS) to observe the UV photon tracks produced by Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) interacting with atmospheric nuclei. The observatory comprises an Atmospheric Monitoring System (AMS) to gather data about the status of the atmosphere, including an infrared camera (IRCAM) for cloud coverage and cloud top height detection. This paper describes the design and characterization tests of IRCAM, which is the responsibility of the Spanish JEM-EUSO Consortium. The core of IRCAM is a 640x480 microbolometer array, the ULIS 04171, sensitive to radiation in the range 7 to 14 microns.The microbolometer array has been tested using the Front End Electronics Prototype (FEEP). This custom designed electronics corresponds to the Breadboard Model, a design built to verify the camera requirements in the laboratory. The FEEP controls the configuration of the microbolometer, digitizes the detector output, sends data to the Instrument Control Unit (ICU), and controls the microbolometer temperature to a 10 mK stability. Furthermore, the FEEP allows IRCAM to preprocess images by the addition of a powerful FPGA. This prototype has been characterized in the laboratories of Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). Main results, including detector response as a function of the scene temperature, NETD and Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) are shown. Results about thermal resolution meet the system requirements with a NETD lower than 1K including the narrow band filters which allow us to retrieve the clouds temperature using stereovision algorithms.

Plant biology is an important area for the future of space exploration, but biological spaceflight experiments have been always constrained by the hardware capabilities. The European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) unit was an incubator for small organisms, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and was decommissioned in 2018. Here, we describe the FixBox system as add-on hardware to provide fixation capabilities to the plant growth cassettes, which, initially, were not designed to be used for that purpose. Tests were performed to ensure the successful use of this device in the EMCS facility. We also evaluate the required adaptations to the hardware, e.g., to guarantee that the reduced fluid motion in microgravity does not cause any bubbles that could impair the quality of fixation. Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings grown during spaceflight were fixed in the FixBox either in glutaraldehyde or formaldehyde. Electron microscopical images and confocal microscopy immunofluorescent localizations showed an excellent preservation of both cell ultrastructure and antigen conformation. Thus, it is possible to modify existing hardware to comply with the scientific requirements to augment the existing capabilities on board the ISS. In addition, it is also possible to reuse culture chambers from predesigned experimental containers into new modular subunits as FixBox. Similarly, we can design new hardware compatible with a novel cultivation chamber on board, such as is available in BIOLAB, to be used later with FixBox. Lessons learned for future space plant biology researchers include how to manage the number of hardware requirements and constraints on how to preserve the biological samples.

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The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) will be launched and attached to the Japanese module of the International Space Station (ISS). Its aim is to observe UV photon tracks produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays developing in the atmosphere and producing extensive air showers.The key element of the instrument is a very wide-field, very fast, large-lense telescope that can detect extreme energy particles with energy above 10 19 eV. The Atmospheric Monitoring System (AMS), comprising, among others, the Infrared Camera (IRCAM), which is the Spanish contribution, plays a fundamental role in the understanding of the atmospheric conditions in the Field of View (FoV) of the telescope. It is used to detect the temperature of clouds and to obtain the cloud coverage and cloud top altitude during the observation period of the JEM-EUSO main instrument.SENER is responsible for the preliminary design of the Front End Electronics (FEE) of the Infrared Camera, based on an uncooled microbolometer, and the manufacturing and verification of the prototype model. This paper describes the flight design drivers and key factors to achieve the target features, namely, detector biasing with electrical noise better than 100µV from 1 Hz to 10 MHz, temperature control of the microbolometer, from 10• C to 40 • C with stability better than 10 mK over 4.8 hours, low noise high bandwidth amplifier adaptation of the microbolometer output to differential input before analog to digital conversion, housekeeping generation, microbolometer control, and image accumulation for noise reduction.It also shows the modifications implemented in the FEE prototype design to perform a tradeoff of different technologies, such as the convenience of using linear or switched regulation for the temperature control, the possibility to check the camera performances when both microbolometer and analog electronics are moved further away from the power and digital electronics, and the addition of switching regulators to demonstrate the design is immune to the electrical noise the switching converters introduce.Finally, the results obtained during the verification phase are presented: FEE limitations, verification results, including FEE noise for each channel and its equivalent NETD and microbolometer temperature stability achieved, technologies trade-off, lessons learnt, and design improvement to implement in future project phases.