Expertise Centre

Although MICE should have a broad general knowledge of the whole MIRI instrument, the French Centre will be naturally specialized in the area that it has been working for during the instrument building, which is the imager, the low resolution spectrograph and the coronagraphs. The specific expertise for the medium resolution spectrograph will be provided by other groups (ATC, UK Edinburgh and Leiden, NL) within the European consortium. It is clear that the technical expertise that is acquired must be exploited by being placed at the service of the preparation and realization of the scientific programmes.

The document MIRI-Requirements presents the scientific requirements that will rule such Centre. MIRI-Development_Plan defines how MICE intends to meet those requirements during the period 2015 – 2019. It describes the various support tasks that must be fulfilled out by MICE if the community is to obtain maximum scientific benefit from the investment in MIRI. Finally, MIRI-Management_Plan describes the management plan for MICE during that period. That document gives also an estimate of the staffing which are/will be involved and their needs.

In order to provide support, the expertise centre is continuously gaining the expertise needed : this expertise goes beyond the expertise acquired in the contractual framework of the MIRI instrumental development (hardware, test and data reduction algorithms). Prior to launch, additional expertise, especially on detectors behaviour, will be acquired through additional tests at JPL or at Saclay (intrapixel measurements). 

The role of MICE implies also the testing of the STSCI data pipeline. MICE will use the commissioning data not only to verify that the performances required are met but also to test the limits of the instrument.