At the end of January, TK shipped two types of loads for mm-wave radiometer calibration:  An internal cone load - derived from the SWI instrument on ESA's Juice mission. In this case TK is a subcontractor to VDI, having alsodesigned and buit the from end optics of the protype CubeSat     .. and two loads derived from the warm pyramidal target on the MetOP-SG Ice Cloud Imager mission:     The latter can be seen in our TVAC chamber where the embeded Platinum Resistance Thermometers (PRTS) are being calibrate against four surounding SPRTs, to a precision at the 10mK level.    

TK has been developing in collaboration with the Institute of Applied Physics in Bern - for a number of years - the calibration target for EUMETSAT's MetOP-SG MWS radiometer. The ProtoFlight Model - (PFM) - the first one due to fly in space - has been undergoing successful final RF testing in Bern. In the pictures you can see the equipment used to make radiometric S11scattering measurements across the microwave sounder's bands - from 23 to 229 GHz. The target - whose temperature can be determined from embedded Platinum Resistance Thermometers to a few milliKelvin- is the black object to the top right. All S11 measurements are with the very tight -45dB monostatic reflectivity requirement - an...

We are delighted that Callum Barrett, our new apprentice has won the Best Apprenticeship 2019 award given by the Rotary Club at a ceremony at Tanbridge House School.       Callum ....second from the left...

With Quasi-Optics from TK and mm-wave sources and detectors from VDI, Petr Neugebauer's multi-frequency High Field ESR spectrometer is undergoing "first-light" (to use an astronomers term) testing.   With the dry magnet from Cryogenic Ltd nicely buried in the floor - and  elegant mounting structure and covering from colleagues in Brno - the Instrument is looking very impressive:     The frequency-independent Quasi-Optical Bridge has an unusual feature of having common path lengths in both the LO chain and source chain to the primary inductive-mode detector and phase reference - to minimisethe effect of source phase noise on the instrument's' sensitivity.    ...

Under guidance from Bob Clarke and Andrew Gregory from NPL's Electromagnetic & Electrochemical Technologies Department, we have designed a high Q resonator for materials measurement at mm-wavelengths for Qinetiq plc. Using a precision-turned high conductivity spherical mirror and carefully adjusted coupling holes, the resonator will allow precision measurements of the complex permitivity of low loss materials. Fine adjustment of the flat sample mirror is provided.   The two waveguide ports - seen below - are   connected to a VNA to display the resonance.

TK is finishing up its work on providing hardware to go on ESA's JUICE mission to the Galilean moons - specifically for the THz radiometer on board.   A montage of JUICE's planetary objectives - emphasising the high magnetic field present       The SWI instrument (SWI) will look at the temperature structure, composition and dynamics of Jupiter's stratosphere as well as the thin atmospheres and exospheres of three of four of the moons first seen by Galileo in the winter of 1610 using his newly invented telescope: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto - just missing out on Io, the most inner one. The SWI - by looking at emissions from the rotation lines of a range of trace gas...