Working Group 3 Infrared interferometry at Dome C

The goal of the working group was to define and realize a pre-feasibility study of an Antarctic interferometer dedicated to the characterization of exozodis with the sensitivity required (30 zodis 5 Ï detection) to discriminate sources suitable for future exoearth spectroscopic analysis. The engineering study was carried out at AMOS, based on a concept by Thalès Alenia Space derived from the GENIE instrument studied for ESA. Particular emphasis was put on the compatibility with Concordia logistic and operational constraints, for which input was provided by IPEV through long visits by a system engineer student, Xavier Daudigeos. The preliminary results are encouraging enough so that we recommend to move forward with a proposal for full industrial feasibility study that could be submitted to FP7 and/or to ESA.