Optimast structurally connected interferometry enabled by in-space robotic manufacturing and assembly

Belle, G. T. van; Hillsberry, Dan; Kloske, John; Kugler, Justin; Patane, Simon; Paul-Gin, Noah; Piness, Jessica; Riley, Daniel; Schomer, Jack; Snyder, Mike; Tobiassen, Thorin S

doi:10.1117/12.2563084

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“…19 A structurally connected space interferometer, proposed by Made In Space (now Redwire) and Lowell Observatory, would be formed by manufacturing a 20-m-long boom on-orbit with 3D printer technology. 20 Related technology is Miniaturized Distributed Occulter/ Telescope (mDOT), 21 while it is not a space interferometer, but mDOT applies formation flight technology to its mission. Inspired by these projects, we propose a formation flying space interferometer comprising three small satellites under the program called Space Experiment of InfraRed Interferometric Observation Satellite (SEIRIOS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High spatial resolution spectral imaging method for space interferometers and its application to formation flying small satellites

Matsuo

Ikari

Kondo

et al. 2022

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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Infrared space interferometers can surpass the spatial resolution limitations of singledish space telescopes. However, stellar interferometers from space have not been realized because of technical difficulties. Two beams coming from individual satellites separated by more than a few tens of meters should precisely interfere such that the optical-path and angular differences between the two beams are reduced at the wavelength level. Herein, we propose a unique beam combiner for space interferometers that records the spectrally resolved interferometric fringes using the densified pupil spectroscopic technique. As the detector plane is optically conjugated to a plane, on which the two beams interfere, we can directly measure the relative phase difference between the two beams. Additionally, when an object within the field of view is obtained with a modest signal-to-noise ratio, we can extract the true complex amplitude from a continuous broadband fringe (i.e., one exposure measurement), without scanning a delay line and chopping interferometry. We discovered that this spectral imaging method is validated for observing the solar system objects by simulating the reflected light from Europa with a small stellar interferometer. However, because the structure of the object spectrum may cause a systematic error in the measurement, this method may be limited in extracting the true complex amplitude for other astronomical objects. Applying this spectral imaging method to general astrophysics will facilitate further research. The beam combiner and spectral imaging method are applied to a formation flying stellar interferometer with multiple small satellites in a Sunsynchronous orbit, named Space Experiment of InfraRed Interferometric Observation Satellite (SEIRIOS), for observation of the solar system objects in visible and near-infrared. We present an overview of SEIRIOS and the optimized optical design for a limited-volume spacecraft. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%