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Following the successful MAJIS/JUICE campaigns, the B.RCLab (Belgian Radiometric Characterization Laboratory) team wished to pursue and further develop its laboratory activities. The aim was to leverage the expertise acquired over years, to optimise the use of the equipment acquired, to strengthen the capabilities in radiometric characterization.
Enhanced infrastructure and cutting-edge equipment
The laboratory expanded its infrastructure with new equipment, including a new laminar flux, which enhances its ability to perform radiometric characterisation of instruments that require a clean environment compliant with ISO 5 standards.
Major improvement include the upgrade of a McPherson spectrometer, which now enables radiometric characterisation in the ultraviolet (UV) under vacuum conditions. This breakthrough allows measurements at wavelengths as low as 90 nm, marking a first for our institute!
In addition, the “Solar irradiance and radiometry” team is developing a BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) optical bench. This facility will allow to characterise the apparent radiation characteristic of a surface (e.g. a coating) and to analyse how the incoming beam is diffused and/or reflected by this surface.
Involvement in ground and space project
In parallel, the B.RCLab has been actively involved in numerous collaborations and projects. These include:
- the radiometric characterization of an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) for a NO2 monitoring instrument, the ASIS spectrograph (designed for aurora observations), and
- straylight characterisation of spectrographs involved in the SEMPAS and ACTRIS projects for trace species measurements.
In addition, thermal cycling was conducted on the GRASS gravimeter. GRASS is an instrument of the Royal Observatory of Belgium as part of the HERA mission.
The B.RCLab also contributed to a significant space mission by characterizing the flight model of a miniaturized near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph for UVSQ-SAT NG. UVSQ-SAT NG is a CubeSat developed by LATMOS and the Université de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ). This satellite builds on the legacy of INSPIRE-SAT 7, a project in which the B.RCLab was already involved in 2022.
UVSQ-SAT NG is a 6U CubeSat dedicated to studying Earth's radiation budget. It carries multiple scientific payloads, including the NIR spectrograph designed to measure greenhouse gas concentrations in the 1200–2000 nm wavelength range.
The B.RCLab played a major role in the radiometric characterization of these sensors, focusing on key parameters such as the measurement of Spectral Response Function (SRF), absolute calibration and mapping the operability of the spectrograph NIR detector.
Looking ahead, the next major milestone for the laboratory is the characterization of VenSpec-H.
