SWAP: Sun watcher with a new EUV telescope on a technology demonstration platform

SWAP (SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing) is an instrument that has been selected to fly on the PROBA-2 technology demonstration platform, a program of the European Space Agency (ESA) to be launched in 2006. SWAP is based on an off-axis degraded Ritchey Chretien telescope that will image the EUV solar corona at 19.5 nm on a specifically fabricated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sensitivity enhanced CMOS APS detector. The optical design and the optical coatings are derived from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) operating on-board SOHO since 1995. It has been adapted for a single wavelength telescope with off-axis optics. It allows to use smaller optics and filters, with simple internal baffles avoiding external protruding parts. The superpolished optics will receive a multilayer coating that provides spectral selection centred on 19.5 nm and EUV reflectivity in normal incidence. This compact design is specifically adapted for accommodation on PROBA-2, where mass and envelope requirements are very stringent The SWAP PROBA-2 program will be an opportunity to demonstrate this new optical concept, while it will also validate space remote sensing with APS detectors, as well as on-board image processing capabilities. On the science outcomes, SWAP will provide solar corona images in the Fe XII line on a baselined 2-min cadence. Observations with this specific wavelength allow detecting phenomena, such as solar flares or 'EIT-waves', associated with the early phase of coronal mass ejections. The SWAP data will complement the observations provided by SOHO-EIT, and STEREO-SECCHI.