No abstract

The Interhelioprobe mission aims to investigate the inner heliosphere and the Sun from close distances (up to 0.3 AU) and from out of the ecliptic plane (up to 30°). In this paper we present the relevance of the mission and its main scientific objectives, describe the scientific payload, ballistic scenario and orbits of the spacecraft. Possibilities of scientific cooperation with other solar and heliospheric space missions are also mentioned.

No abstract

The development of a surface micromachined infrared ray (IR) focal plane array (FPA), in which a single SiO 2 layer functions as an IR absorbing plate and a Pb(Zr 0.3 Ti 0.7 )O 3 thin film serves as a thermally sensitive material is described. The advantages of using SiO 2 as an IR absorbing layer include the fact that it has good IR absorbance within the 8-12 µm spectral range. In this case, about 60% of the incident IR spectrum in this range was absorbed. Another important advantage of SiO 2 , when applied to the top of the Pt/PZT/Pt stack, is that it functions as a supporting membrane. Consequently, the IR absorbing layer forms as one body on the membrane structure, which simplifies the overall MEMS process and provides a robust structure.