The SOHO CAL-SO program funded by the Low Cost Access to Space NASA grant NNG05WC09G is in the third year of a three year contract. Thus far under the grant funds we have had two successful rocket underflights that return high quality EUV data and three successful calibrations of the SEM instrument at NIST. Analysis of the data from the last underflight (US 36.236) is complete. We are currently evaluating all of the data from the CAL-SO program obtained since 1996 to determine the best approach to calibrating the SOHO/SEM database.

The ESP flight and rocket instruments have been successfully calibrated at NIST and delivered to LASP. The flight instrument is currently undergoing environmental testing (EMI, EMC and thermal vac testing) at Ball Aerospace. During NIST calibration, both instruments performed as expected and met or exceeded all instrument performance requirements. Following environmental testing, the EVE instrument suite will be calibrated on Beam line II at NIST. The work is being funded by NASA grant award number 153-5979.

The Space Sciences Center is currently working with the Viterbi School of Engineering and JPL/NASA to develop a robotically operated differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for determining the presence of water and volatiles in Martian soil. The project is part of the Strategic University Research Partnership (SURP) program, a JPL/NASA initiative to foster collaborations with leading universities in science and technology development for planetary, earth, astronomy and astrophysics exploration.

Optics Free Spectrometer

Work is currently underway to optimize the existing design of the OFS to improve the efficiency and to reduce the size and weight of the instrument. The angular distribution of photoelectrons has its maximal luminosity with the photoelectron ejection angle of 90 deg to the ionizing beam of EUV radiation. The new OFS design will combine this maximal luminosity with the second-order focusing elevation angle of 42.3 deg in a cylindrical focusing system. This optimal combination of the luminosity and transmission of the photoelectrons, together with the original on-axis four-electrode focusing system of the OFS allows the spectrometer to reach substantially higher efficiency and spectral resolution (0.1 nm or better) than prototypes designed earlier.

Filter Free EUV Spectrometer

The Filter Free EUV Spectrometer is a next generation low cost, light weight EUV spectrometer. Based on the successful design of the SEM, the intrument takes reliability a step further with the use of multiple transmission gratings for order sorting and white light rejection thus eliminating the need for potentially unstable thin film filters. A laboratory prototype has been fabricated and successfully tested. Design improvements based on lessons learned from initial testing are underway.