The Luminosity Oscillations Imager (LOI) is a part of the VIRGO instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) launched on 2 December 1995. The main scientific objectives of the instrument were to detect solar g and p modes in intensity. The instrument is very simple. It consists of a telescope making an image of the Sun onto a silicon detector. This detector resolves the solar disk into 12 spatial elements allowing the detection of degrees lower than seven. The guiding is provided by two piezoelectric actuators that keep the Sun centred on the detector to better than 0.1″. The LOI serves here as an example for understanding the logical steps required for building a space instrument. The steps encompasses the initial scientific objectives, the conceptual design, the detailed design, the testing, the operations and the fulfilment of the initial scientific objectives. Each step is described in details for the LOI. The in-flight and ground-based performances, and the scientific achievements of the LOI are mentioned. When the loop is looped, it can be assessed whether a Next Generation LOI could be useful. This short course can serve as a guide when one wishes to propose a space instrument for a new space mission.

Since the 1960s, instruments on Space Physics missions have changed and improved in many respects, but the basic physical parameters that we need to measure have remained the same. The requirement on any Space Physics mission is still to make measurements which are as extensive as possible of all the parameters of space plasmas: the distribution functions of all the constituents in the plasma populations; the DC and AC magnetic and electric fields; and the distribution functions of energetic particles species. All these parameters and distribution functions need to be measured with high spatial, directional and temporal resolution.

These lectures rely on extensive experience building magnetometers, energetic particle detectors, as well as on-board data processors and power supply and power management systems for space instruments. They provide an overview of the kind of instrumentation in which Europe has acquired considerable expertise over the years and which will be continued in future missions.

When I gave this talk in the Canary Islands Winter School of 2003, it was obvious that the interest of the audience was about how to make a successful proposal rather than finding out about the developing phases of a space mission. Unfortunately, I do not know how to make a 100% successful proposal. Success depends on a combination of bright ideas, creativity, timely response to the needs of a large scientific community, adequate system knowledge and, certainly, a bit of good luck. This presentation aims to make young scientists acquainted with the phases and challenges encountered in new space science missions. For that purpose these notes are organized in two sections. The first one establishes the phases of a mission, that is the process of carrying through a generic science project, while the second deals with the actual role of scientists in the whole process. Other talks in the Winter School focused in the science and the experiments that might be done, on how we can increase our knowledge of the Universe by means of space technologies. Here, we try to help making these, as well as other new ideas, real space science experiments.

The steps needed to define a successful space science mission are numerous. The science drivers, the unique advantages this mission provides over past missions or earth-based experiments, and the payload that it includes are the key factors to guarantee its success. Finding the required information on such topics is not so straightforward, especially as they are usually outside the scope of undergraduate courses. The 2003 Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics aimed at providing a focused framework that helps fill this need. Space agencies follow a necessarily complex path towards the selection of a specific mission, as required by the enormous costs that are associated with space activities. The steps towards its completion are elaborate and require careful assessment at every stage. The orbit that will be used and the requirements that are imposed have impacts on the science and the mission budget. Thus, knowing how to make the best use of propulsion technologies and gravity helps from solar system bodies plays a crucial role. The first two chapters of this book cover all these topics and illustrate the complexity of defining space missions as well as how and where look for help (i.e. other than the rarely receptive funding agencies).

The instruments on-board will in the end make the science that has driven the mission. How the science questions translate into specific requirements, and then, into the actual instruments are crucial aspects in the definition of the payload.

These lectures cover the principles of remote sensing instrumentation as commonly used for missions to solar system bodies. From the basic physical principles, an introduction to real instruments is provided. Particular attention is paid to the airborne visible infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral imager, Cassini-visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) and the visible and infrared thermal imaging spectrometer (VIRTIS) series. We conclude with a review of the in situ science provided by landers, rovers and other surface elements.

Observations of the ultraviolet (UV) and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) universe provide us with the tools to examine the atomic, ionic and molecular properties of many phenomena, including the Sun, planetary atmospheres, comets, stars, interstellar and intergalactic gas and dust, and extragalactic objects. This chapter takes the reader from the dawn of the UV space age, through to the modern instruments operating on missions such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope. We examine the properties of the UV region of the electromagnetic spectrum and explore the reasons for utilizing it for space research. This includes a detailed discussion of the basic processes which lead to EUV/UV radiation from space plasmas, and an introduction to the “EUV/UV Toolbox”, which allows us to diagnose so much from the emission we detect. Frequent reference is made to recent and ongoing missions and results. However, such a review would not be complete without a glance at the future strategy for EUV/UV space research. This highlights some new techniques, and a range of upcoming missions, though the emphasis of the near-future space programme in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum is more on solar physics than non-solar astronomy; there are many exciting developments in solar EUV/UV research, but the lack of mission opportunities for astronomy in general is a concern.

This set of lectures starts with a general view of space science missions, from their rationale to the sequence in which they have been defined in the last decades. A crucial aspect in the definition of the mission is its launch and cruise strategies. In the case of solar system bodies, also orbital insertion becomes a major issue in the mission planning. The different strategies based on gravity assists maneuvers, chemical and electric propulsion are detailed. As case examples the Rosetta, Bepi-Colombo and Solar Orbiter missions are studied in their different scenarios.

In this set of lectures I discuss instrumentation for astronomical X-ray observatories. In particular I first briefly outline the physical processes that are observed in cosmic X-ray sources, and then I discuss X-ray telescopes and X-ray detectors. An overview of the development of X-ray Astronomy, since its beginnings in the 1960s to today's missions, follows. The lectures end with a look into the future with special emphasis in the next decade or two.

The operational phase of European Space Agency (ESA)'s Hipparcos mission ended 10 years ago, in 1993. Hipparcos was the first satellite dedicated to the accurate measurement of stellar positions. Within 10 years, ESA's follow-on mission, Gaia, should be part way through its operational phase. I summarize the basic principles underlying the measurement of star positions and distances, present the operational principles and scientific achievements of Hipparcos, and demonstrate how the knowledge acquired from that programme has been used to develop the observational and operational principles of Gaia – a vastly more performant space experiment which will revolutionize our knowledge of the structure and evolution of our galaxy.