The engineering team at the University of Geneva is leading the development of the door mechanism of the UVIM telescope during 2025 and will supervise the building in the following years.
This mechanism is meant mainly to protect the telescope interior before the launch, to guarantee a flat-field calibration once in orbit, and to be opened before observations start. The "flat-field" is a standard procedure in which a smooth surface is illuminated by a known source so to calibrate the optics and detector efficiency.
The door will be closed periodically to perform in-flight calibration of the dark current and flat field, because the detectors in space might evolve due to cosmic-ray impacts and exposure to bright sources.
The challenges for this critical mechanism are the absolute reliability of the opening, the rough space conditions with large temperature swings, the absence of possible contaminators, and the smoothness of the internal reflective surface.
The project phase is performed in collaboration with a specialized Swiss space industry, which will build and test the door starting from 2026.
