The Solar eruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph

TL;DR

The SNIFS instrument is a high-cadence solar spectrograph designed to observe the Sun's chromosphere and transition region at specific wavelengths, aiming to capture fast-evolving solar phenomena with unprecedented detail.

Contribution

This paper presents the detailed design, science goals, and pre-integration testing of the novel SNIFS solar spectrograph scheduled for launch in 2025.

Findings

Successful design of a high-cadence solar spectrograph

Detailed instrument and subsystem specifications provided

Pre-integration testing confirms readiness for deployment

Abstract

The Solar eruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS) is a solar-gazing spectrograph scheduled to fly in the summer of 2025 on a NASA sounding rocket. Its goal is to view the solar chromosphere and transition region at a high cadence (1s) both spatially (0.5") and spectrally (33 m{\AA}) viewing wavelengths around Lyman Alpha (1216 {\AA}), Si iii (1206 {\AA}) and O v (1218 {\AA}) to observe spicules, nanoflares, and possibly a solar flare. This time cadence will provide yet-unobserved detail about fast-changing features of the Sun. The instrument is comprised of a Gregorian-style reflecting telescope combined with a spectrograph via a specialized mirrorlet array that focuses the light from each spatial location in the image so that it may be spectrally dispersed without overlap from neighboring locations. This paper discusses the driving science, detailed instrument and subsystem design, and pre-integration testing of the SNIFS instrument.