ICON's Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) instrument is an “imaging spectrometer”. Its 2 dimensional detector records spectral information over the range 58.4 to 83.4 nm in the one direction, and records 12 degree wide x 1/4 degree high slices of the sky over a 16 degree field of view in the other direction.

In preparation for alignment of the toroidal grating used in the EUV instrument, an optical system has been setup to simulate the cylindrical wavefront. This simulates the instrument’s view for each slice of sky while in orbit. The optical set up consists of a convex sphere and a concave toroid that produces a line image on the EUV entrance slit to simulate what EUV will observe in space. This optics pair will be used to first align the EUV instrument using visible light, then the final alignment will take place in a vacuum chamber using EUV radiation, since EUV light is not transmitted in air.

During the review, each instrument and system were reviewed, and plans for integration of these systems onto a unified payload finalized. The team was successful in demonstrating their ability to complete these tasks on schedule. All instruments will be delivered to Utah for integration by the end of the calendar year, before delivery to Orbital ATK in Virginia by May 2016, in preparation for launch in June 2017.

Project Manager Bill Craig said “One of the key strengths was the consistency of the team; we were compared to the high quality expected of a Class B mission; a standard we set for ourself at PDR” and P.I. Thomas Immel complemented the team on an outstanding job in preparing and delivering a very successful review.

Congratulations to the entire ICON team… Onwards to Integration!

The Orbital Pegasus launch system was selected by NASA Launch Services to carry ICON into orbit. ICON will be launched over the Pacific Ocean after taking off from Kwajalein Atoll on the Orbital L-1011 that is part of the Pegasus launch system. Some pictures and discussion of the launch system can be found here. Here’s a synopsis of the launch system.

It’s a great way to get to space, used successfully by many Explorers in the past.

On October 29th 2014, the ICON mission was reviewed at NASA Headquarters, where the project presented the status of the project, focusing on the work that had been done to design and formulate the mission to the Science Mission Directorate and the Deputy Administrator for Programs at NASA HQ. At this review ICON was successfully confirmed and was directed to proceed with formulation the mission.

The team has been working together through the successful Mission Preliminary Design Review in July and in the months that followed to reach this key milestones. Preparation for this step has also been a focus for colleagues in the Explorers Office at Goddard Space Flight Center and in the Heliophysics Division at HQ. Everyone involved is excited to proceed with the implementation of the mission!

The ICON Mission has now passed its Preliminary Design Review, where it is determined whether the design of the observatory and ground segment meet the mission requirements. After a season of 35 peer and design reviews that started back in April, the documentation and design for the Explorer were delivered and presented to the Standing Review Board at Orbital. Congratulations to the whole team are due, it has been an amazing effort!