Aims. This paper describes the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) that was launched onboard ESA's Herschel Space Observatory in May 2009. Methods. The instrument is a set of 7 heterodyne receivers that are electronically tuneable, covering 480−1250 GHz with SIS mixers and the 1410−1910 GHz range with hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. The local oscillator (LO) subsystem comprises a Ka-band synthesizer followed by 14 chains of frequency multipliers and 2 chains for each frequency band. A pair of auto-correlators and a pair of acousto-optical spectrometers process the two IF signals from the dual-polarization, single-pixel front-ends to provide instantaneous frequency coverage of 2 × 4 GHz, with a set of resolutions (125 kHz to 1 MHz) that are better than 0.1 km s −1 . Results. After a successful qualification and a pre-launch TB/TV test program, the flight instrument is now in-orbit and completed successfully the commissioning and performance verification phase. The in-orbit performance of the receivers matches the pre-launch sensitivities. We also report on the in-orbit performance of the receivers and some first results of HIFI's operations.

Aims. In this paper the calibration and in-orbit performance of the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) is described. Methods. The calibration of HIFI is based on a combination of ground and in-flight tests. Dedicated ground tests to determine those instrument parameters that can only be measured accurately using controlled laboratory stimuli were carried out in the instrument level test (ILT) campaign. Special in-flight tests during the commissioning phase (CoP) and performance verification (PV) allowed the determination of the remaining instrument parameters. The various instrument observing modes, as specified in astronomical observation templates (AOTs), were validated in parallel during PV by observing selected celestial sources. Results. The initial calibration and in-orbit performance of HIFI has been established. A first estimate of the calibration budget is given. The overall in-flight instrument performance agrees with the original specification. Issues remain at only a few frequencies.

We report the first detection of the ground-state rotational transition of the methylidyne cation CH + towards the massive star-forming region DR 21 with the HIFI instrument onboard the Herschel satellite. The line profile exhibits a broad emission line, in addition to two deep and broad absorption features associated with the DR 21 molecular ridge and foreground gas. These observations allow us to determine a 12 CH + J=1-0 line frequency of ν=835137±3 MHz, in good agreement with a recent experimental determination. We estimate the CH + column density to be a few 10 13 cm −2 in the gas seen in emission, and > 10 14 cm −2 in the components responsible for the absorption, which is indicative of a high line of sight average abundance [CH + ]/[H]> 1.2 × 10 −8 . We show that the CH + column densities agree well with the predictions of state-of-the-art C-shock models in dense UV-illuminated gas for the emission line, and with those of turbulent dissipation models in diffuse gas for the absorption lines. ⋆ Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. sented in Sect. 2. The HIFI observations are described in Sect. 3. The results, given in Sect. 4, are compared to models in Sect. 5. E. Falgarone, V. Ossenkopf, M. Gerin et al.: Strong CH + J=1-0 emission and absorption in DR21 5

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[1] Measurements of stratospheric zonal winds on Titan were made in preparation for and during the time of the descent of the Huygens Probe into Titan's atmosphere on 14 January 2005. Fully resolved emission lines from ethane near 11.7 mm were measured on the east, center, and west positions on Titan using the NASA/GSFC Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind And Composition, HIPWAC, mounted on the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan 8.2 m Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Analysis of the Doppler shifts of the emission line shapes yielded mean prograde gas velocity $60 ± 65 m/s at altitudes below $120 km ($5 mbar). This result is consistent with retrievals from the Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment and from other observations near this altitude range. Current spectral line shapes, however, differed significantly from those obtained in similar measurements on Subaru in 2004 and on the NASA IRTF in 1993-1996, which retrieved prograde zonal winds 190 ± 90 m/s at 230 km ($0.4 mbar). The cores of the emission lines, which probe the high-altitude region, could not be fitted as before to retrieve wind directly using the accepted atmospheric model for Titan. They imply an approximately tenfold increase in ethane mole fraction (1.2 Â 10 À4 ) with strong wind shear above the stratopause, providing a potential probe of the lower mesosphere and possible evidence of temporal and spatial variability. Results contribute to coordinated measurements of winds by various techniques providing information on the altitude distribution of wind velocity in Titan's atmosphere from near the surface to the lower mesosphere.