Calibration and testing of the Planck-LFI QM instrument A. Mennella a , B. Aja b , E. Artal b , M. Balasini c , G. Baldan c , P. Battaglia c , T. Bernardino d , M. Bersanelli a , E. Blackhurst e , L. Boschini c , C. Burigana f , R.C. Butler f , B. Cappellini a , F. Colombo c , F. Cuttaia f , O. D’Arcangelo g , S. Donzelli a , R. Davis e , L. De La Fuente b , F. Ferrari c , L. Figini g , S. Fogliani h , C. Franceschet c , E. Franceschi f , T. Gaier i , S. Galeotta j , S. Garavaglia g , A. Gregorio h , M. Guerrini h , R. Hoyland k , N. Hughes l , P. Jukkala l , D. Kettle e , M. Laaninen l , P.M. Lapolla c , D. Lawson e , R. Leonardi m , P. Leutenegger c , G. Mari a , P. Meinhold m , M. Miccolis c , D. Maino a , M. Malaspina f , N. Mandolesi f , M. Maris h , E. Martinez-Gonzalez d , G. Morgante f , L. Pagan c , F. Pasian h , P. Platania g , M. Pecora c , S. Pezzati a , L. Popa f , T. Poutanen n , M. Pospieszalski o , N. Roddis e , M. Salmon d , M. Sandri f , R. Silvestri c , A. Simonetto g , C. Sozzi g , L. Stringhetti f , L. Terenzi f , M. Tomasi j , J. Tuovinen p , L. Valenziano f , J. Varis p , F. Villa f , A. Wilkinson e , F. Winder e , and A. Zacchei h a Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit` a degli studi di Milano, Milano, Italy b Departamento de Ingenier´ ıa de Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain c Alcatel Alenia Spazio, Vimodrone, Milano, Italy d Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain e Jodrell Bank Observatory, Jodrell Bank, U.K. f IASF - Sezione di Bologna, INAF, Bologna, Italy g Istituto di Fisica del Plasma, CNR, Milano, Italy h Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, INAF, Italy i Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena, United States j IASF - Sezione di Milano, INAF, Milano, Italy k Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain l Elektrobit Microwave Oy, Kauniainen, Finland m Physics Department, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA n Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland o NRAO, Charlotsville, USA p MilliLab, VTT Information Technology, Espoo, Finland ABSTRACT In this paper we present the test results of the qualification model (QM) of the LFI instrument, which is being developed as part of the ESA Planck satellite. In particular we discuss the calibration plan which has defined the main requirements of the radiometric tests and of the experimental setups. Then we describe how these requirements have been implemented in the custom-developed cryo-facilities and present the main results. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned for the testing of the LFI Flight Model (FM). Keywords: Cosmic microwave background, differential receivers, space experiments 1. INTRODUCTION The ESA Planck mission is the third generation space mission dedicated to the measurement of CMB anisotropies and is designed to fully extract the cosmological information contained in CMB anisotropy by setting angular resolution, spectral coverage and sensitivity such that the power spectrum reconstruction will be limited by Send correspondence to Aniello Mennella E-mail: aniello.mennella@fisica.unimi.it, Telephone: 39 0250317275 Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter, edited by John C. Mather, Howard A. MacEwen, Mattheus W.M. de Graauw, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6265, 62650G, (2006) · 0277-786X/06/$15 · doi: 10.1117/12.669408 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6265 62650G-1 Downloaded from SPIE Digital Library on 17 Sep 2010 to 140.105.79.132. Terms of Use: http://spiedl.org/terms