This paper describes the design and performance testing of a vibration isolation and suppression system (VISS) which can be used to isolate a precision payload from spacecraft borne disturbances. VISS utilizes six hybrid isolation struts in a hexapod configuration. Central to the concept is a novel hybrid actuation concept which provides both passive isolation and active damping. The passive isolation is provided using a flight proven D-strut design. The passive design is supplemented by a voice coil based active system. The active system is used to enhance the performance of the passive isolation system at lower frequencies, and provide the capability to steer the payload.
We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength range 25 -400 µm. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.
The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is a concept for an 8-meter to 16-meter UVOIR space observatory for launch in the 2025-2030 era. ATLAST will allow astronomers to answer fundamental questions at the forefront of modern astronphysics, including "Is there life elsewhere in the Galaxy?" We present a range of science drivers that define the main performance requirements for ATLAST (8 to 16 milliarcsec angular resolution, diffraction limited imaging at 0.5 µm wavelength, minimum collecting area of 45 square meters, high sensitivity to light wavelengths from 0.1 µm to 2.4 µm, high stability in wavefront sensing and control). We will also discuss the synergy between ATLAST and other anticipated future facilities (e.g., TMT, EELT, ALMA) and the priorities for technology development that will enable the construction for a cost that is comparable to current generation observatory-class space missions.
Abstract. We present some results of the Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Study for the New Worlds Observer (NWO). We show that the use of starshades is the most effective and affordable path to mapping and understanding our neighboring planetary systems, to opening the search for life outside our solar system, while serving the needs of the greater astronomy community. A starshade-based mission can be implemented immediately with a near term program of technology demonstration.
THE MISSIONThe New Worlds Observer (NWO) is a mission concept for direct observation and study of exoplanets all the way down to Earth-like objects. Its goal is very simple: map the planetary systems of the nearby stars, search for habitable planets, and look for signs of life. An Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Study (ASMCS) has just been completed, and this paper summarizes some of the results of that study [1]. The many people of the New Worlds study team who contributed to this study and thus to this paper are listed in Table 1, along with an indicator of their roles.Is Earth a unique outpost of life in a vast and empty Universe? How did planets come into being and why are they in their current state? What are the circumstances under which life arises, and how common is it? NASA can definitively address these questions in the coming decade with the New Worlds Observer (NWO).Hundreds of giant exoplanets have now been detected and improvements in technology are moving the detection limits to smaller and smaller masses. NWO can discover Earth-like planets, but detecting their existence is just the beginning: only spectroscopy of planets in the habitable zones of dozens of stars can answer the question of how common life is in the Universe. A facility capable of finding and characterizing terrestrial planets requires that the starlight be suppressed by a factor of at least 10 10 to enable the planet's light to be seen against the light of its host sun. This suppression needs to be confined within tens of milliarcseconds (mas) so that the planet's light is not blocked. Direct imaging with NWO will reveal most of the planets in an extrasolar system in just a single exposure. Through spectroscopy, we can determine the nature of each planet discovered.The NWO mission concept (Fig. 1) can do all of this and more. Full suppression of the starlight before it enters the aperture relieves the telescope of demanding requirements such as ultra-high quality wave front correction and stray light control. The NWO telescope requires only diffraction-limited wavefront quality. This design results in a clean separation of light suppression and light collection. The starshade is a passive mechanical structure that only has centimeter-level requirements on the edge, but not over the surface. Integrated development of NWO could start today.The NWO mission is illustrated in Figure 2. Two launch vehicles take the 50 m starshade and the 4 m telescope to L2, where they enter a halo orbit. The two spacecraft are separated by ∼80,000 km. This is an O...
The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT) was designed to accomplish three scientific objectives: (1) learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks and how they acquire their inhomogeneous chemical composition;(2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. SPIRIT will accomplish these objectives through infrared observations with a two aperture interferometric instrument. This paper gives an overview into the optical system design, including the design form, the metrology systems used for control, stray light, and optical testing.
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