Abstract
The European Space Agency's FIRST satellite will include a submillimeter direct detection instrument using bolometric detectors. The scientific drivers for the instrument are discussed and the essential features of the proposed instrument, SPIRE, are described. SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver) comprises a three-band imaging photometer covering the 250 - 500-micrometer range and an imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer covering wavelengths between 200 and 670 micrometer. The SPIRE detectors are 300-mK bolometer arrays providing full sampling of the diffraction spot. The imaging photometer is optimized for deep photometric surveys in the submillimeter (one of the main science goals of the FIRST mission), for which application it will be much more sensitive than any Earth-based facility. The nominal bands for the photometer are 250, 350, and 500 micrometer with a spectral resolution of 3. Three detector arrays observe the same 4-arcminute field of view simultaneously, with dichroic beam dividers separating the bands. The imaging spectrometer has a 2-arcminute field of view and an adjustable spectral resolution of 0.04 - 2 cm<SUP>-1</SUP> ((lambda) /(Delta) (lambda) equals 20 - 1000 at 250 micrometer).
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