Compact Terahertz Instruments for Space Terahertz Astronomy

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description ---------------- . BACKGROUND : . ---------------- . In the Thz frequency range, they offer unprecedented solutions to study at the same time wind dynamics, abundancy of atmospheric contents and surface temperatures of the planets/comets atmospheres . On Earth, Aura’s Microwave Limb Sounders-MLS has flown up to 2.5 THz to measure Earth’s stratosphere (Ozone), and today ESA is considering direct observations of atomic oxygen, hydroxyl radical, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide of the high atmosphere up to 4.7 THz (KEYSTONE). Similarly, heterodyne receivers have been built to measure water and carbon monoxide emissions from comets (Microwave Imager for the Rosetta Orbiter-MIRO at 557 GHz); or Jupiter and its Icy moon’s atmospheres and surfaces (JUICE-SWI) with two channels working at 0.6 and 1.2 THz (mainly water line and methane as wind tracers). These heterodyne front-end instruments are based on III-V THz Schottky technology for both the Detector (Mixer) and its Local Oscillators source (Frequency Multiplier Chain), today available respectively up to 2 THz and 1 THz (state-of-the-art demonstrated recently at JPL USA, ongoing work at LIRA France). In particular, these front-ends can operate at room temperature, with a relative bandwidth reaching 20 % and a spectral resolution of 10^7 across an instantaneous spectrum of up to ten’s of GHz (IF). Therefore, During the last 15 years, th