# Prospect for UV observations from the Moon. III. Assembly and ground calibration of Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI)

## TL;DR

LUCI is a near-ultraviolet telescope designed for lunar deployment, with detailed assembly and calibration described, aiming to observe transient sources in space from the Moon's stable platform.

## Contribution

This paper presents the design, assembly, and ground calibration of LUCI, a novel lunar UV telescope for space observations from the Moon.

## Key findings

- LUCI's assembly and calibration are successfully completed.
- The instrument is ready for lunar flight deployment.
- LUCI will observe transient UV sources with high resolution.

## Abstract

The Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI) is a near-ultraviolet (NUV) telescope with all-spherical mirrors, designed and built to fly as a scientific payload on a lunar mission with Team Indus - the original Indian entry to the Google Lunar X-Prize. Observations from the Moon provide a unique opportunity of a stable platform with an unobstructed view of the space at all wavelengths due to the absence of atmosphere and ionosphere. LUCI is an 80 mm aperture telescope, with a field of view of 27.6'x 20.4' and a spatial resolution of 5'', will scan the sky in the NUV (200-320 nm) domain to look for transient sources. We describe here the assembly, alignment, and calibration of the complete instrument. LUCI is now in storage in a class 1000 clean room and will be delivered to our flight partner in readiness for flight.