Description
SIRIUS is a small space science mission designed to study the environment surrounding our Sun and nearby stars in the Galaxy, out to distance of 100-200 parsecs. The scientific programme will be executed by a high-resolution (resolving power of 5000) extreme ultraviolet spectrograph covering the wavelength range 170-260Å.
The mission has been funded by the UK Space Agency as part of their Science Bi-lateral Programme. The instrument team and the mission science are led by the University of Leicester with contributions from other UK groups. They payload will be provided by an international consortium with partners from Germany, Spain and Belgium. The wider project consortium includes industry partner BAE/In-Space Missions (spacecraft and operations) and Oxford Space Systems (telescope deployment).
SIRIUS is piloting a new approach to space science, delivering high quality, observatory class science at significantly lower cost than by “traditional” programmes. The instrument applies novel techniques to deliver high sensitivity in a small package and makes use of high TRL off-the-shelf mission solutions and a ride-share launch. The estimated cost of the mission is £50-53M. It is well-suited to the recent ESA call for mini-F and F3 missions.
This paper will describe the SIRIUS instrument and its scientific capabilities, with a particular focus on the need for stellar spectral modelling and consequent atomic data.
