[astro-ph.IM] The orbiter of the Chandrayaan-3 mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carries an experimental payload called SHAPE (Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth).
This payload makes disc-integrated observations of Earth as an exoplanet, from the Moon as well as from the high altitude Earth orbit. The instrument consists of an Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) based near-infrared spectro-polarimeter making the measurements in the two orthogonally polarized directions using a pair of Indium-Gallium-Arsenide (InGaAs) detectors.
The laboratory characterization of the flight model of the instrument included a relative measurement of the response of the two channels of the instrument. The field measurements of the instrument revealed a non-uniformity in the field response. In the light of non-identical response of the two channels and the non-uniformity of the field response, a theoretical model of such a polarimeter is developed to gain insights into the performance of a polarimeter.
Analysis of lunar observations obtained within the SHAPE field of view indicates that the transmission ratio between the two polarized channels lies in the range 0.8-1.2. Such deviations from unity can introduce offsets in the measured polarization of up to about 10%.
The suitability of SHAPE for studying the band polarization, defined as the relative polarization within a spectral absorption band, is studied. Using the Moon observations and the theoretical instrumental model, the suitability of measuring the relative band polarization is demonstrated.
A study of systematic biases in the band polarization demonstrates a maximum offset of less than 1% in the measured value of the band polarization. The initial results of Earth observations, spectra and flux measurements across phase angles, and the methodology for retrieving the band polarization from these observations are also discussed.
SHAPE flight model and calibration setup. Various optics along with AOTF and detector are marked for the SHAPE flight model EODS package. The path of the light is marked with yellow arrows with the un-diffracted central beam, which is blocked, marked with dashed lines having the vertically and horizontally polarized beams on either side of it. The base plane of SHAPE is also the instrument reference plane. SHAPE flight model test setup is also shown in the bottom. — [astro-ph.IM]
Bhavesh Jaiswal, Swapnil Singh, Ravishankar B T, Anand Jain, Smrati Verma, Reenu Palawat, Brajpal Singh, Bijoy Raha, Sathyanarayana Raju, Bhavesh Mendhekar, Srinivasa Rao Kondapi, Priyanka Das, Rahul Waghmare, Supratik Bose, Supriya Verma, Yogesh Prasad K R, Praloy Karmakar, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Honey Gupta, Balaraman Prabakaran, Motamarri Srikanth, Sankarasubramanian Kasiviswanathan, Anuj Nandi
Comments: 31 pages, 16 Figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2609.13107 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2609.13107v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.13107
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Submission history
From: Bhavesh Jaiswal
[v1] Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:39:38 UTC (3,554 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.13107
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