There are three principal instruments in the SPICA payload:

1. FIR imaging spectrometer - SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument)
   SAFARI will cover the 34-210 μm waveband instantaneously with a spectral resolution of R ~ 10 to a few thousand, and a field of view of 2' × 2'. The optical configuration of SAFARI is a Mach-Zehnder imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The principal advantages of this type of spectrometer are the high mapping speed due to spatial and spectral multiplexing, the ability to straightforwardly incorporate a photometric imaging mode and the operational flexibility to tailor the spectral resolution to the science programme.
   
   
2. The MIR Coronagraph
   The Coronagraph instrument will be used to carry out high contrast observations by suppressing the side lobes of the PSF of a bright source (that is, a star) enabling observation of companion objects (for example, planets and protoplanetary disks). The instrument wavelength range is 5-27 μm with a possible extension down to 3.5 μm. The instrument has two observation modes; imaging and R~200 spectroscopy.
   
   
3. MIR Camera and Spectrometer
   The combined MIR Camera and Spectrometer (MCS) has both photometric imaging and spectroscopic capabilities over the 5–38 μm wavelength range. The instrument is split into two channels, short (S) and long (L) wavelength, with two non-overlapping fields of view.

   The wide field camera will cover the 5–25 μm (S) and 20–38 μm (L) wavebands with fields of view of 5' x 5'. A filter wheel will provide a selection of broad- and narrow-band filters with a resolution of R~5–10 and R~50 respectively. Three different spectroscopic modes are currently under consideration: high resolution mode (R ~ 20–30,000), covering 4–8 μm (S) and/or 12–18 μm (L), with a slit length/width of 3.5" x 0.72" and 6" x 1.2" respectively; medium resolution mode (R ~ 1– few thousand) covering 12.2–23.5 μm (S) and 23–38 μm (L) with a slit length/width of 12" x 1.2" and 12" x 2.5" respectively, and low resolution mode (R ~ 50–100) covering the 5–26 μm (S) and 20–38 μm (L) wavebands with slit length/width of 2.5' x 2.66" and x 1.4" respectively. The medium resolution spectrometer will have an integral field unit, and fields of view of up to 12" x 6"(S) and 12" x 7.5" (L) will be built up from individual (five for S, three for L) slices.
   

   Si:As detectors will be used for the all short-wave channels and Si:Sb for the long-wave channels, with the exception of the high-resolution long-wave channel where Si:As will also be employed.

   The Focal Plane Camera will operate at the 0.7 μm waveband, and will be used for fine guidance. The instrument, provided by Korea through the Korea Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI), will have two channels for redundancy, one of which is proposed for scientific use at the 0.7–5 μm waveband. The instrument field of view will cover 5' x 5', with wideband filters (R ~ 5) and a linear variable filter (R ~ 20) providing photometric imaging and low-resolution spectroscopic imaging respectively.

   The US community is proposing a far-infrared/submillimetre spectrometer, which is more sensitive than SAFARI but has no imaging capability, and hence can be complementary with SAFARI.

   The SPICA focal plane instrument suite is the subject of an on-going scientific and engineering review (2011), the result of which will be a decision on the final complement of instruments to be flown on SPICA.