Title :
Exo-C: A space mission for direct imaging and spectroscopy of extrasolar planetary systems
Author :
Stapelfeldt, Karl
Author_Institution :
Exoplanets & Stellar Astrophys. Lab., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Abstract :
Exo-C is NASAs first community study of a modest aperture space telescope designed for high contrast observations of exoplanetary systems. The mission will be capable of taking optical spectra of nearby exoplanets in reflected light, discovering previously undetected planets, and imaging structure in a large sample of circumstellar disks. It will obtain unique science results on planets down to super-Earth sizes and serve as a technology pathfinder toward an eventual flagship-class mission to find and characterize habitable Earth-like exoplanets. We present the mission/payload design and highlight steps to reduce mission cost/risk relative to previous mission concepts. Key elements are an unobscured telescope aperture, an internal coronagraph with deformable mirrors for precise wavefront control, and an orbit and observatory design chosen for high thermal stability. Exo-C has a similar telescope aperture, orbit, lifetime, and spacecraft bus requirements to the highly successful Kepler mission (which is our cost reference). The needed technology development is on-course for a possible mission start in 2017. This paper summarizes the study final report completed in January 2015. During 2015 NASA will make a decision on its potential development.
Keywords :
aerospace instrumentation; astronomical telescopes; coronagraphs; extrasolar planets; AD 2015 01; Exo-C; Extrasolar Planetary Systems; Kepler mission; NASA first community study; circumstellar disks; deformable mirrors; habitable Earth-like exoplanets; internal coronagraph; modest aperture space telescope; nearby exoplanet optical spectra; super-Earth sizes; technology pathfinder; Apertures; Optical imaging; Optical variables measurement; Orbits; Space missions; Space vehicles; Telescopes;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference, 2015 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-5379-0
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2015.7119185