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Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Publication Info

Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Article DOI: 10.1086/666325
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/666325
The Search for Habitable Worlds. 1. The Viability of a Starshade Mission
Margaret C. Turnbull, Tiffany Glassman, Aki Roberge, Webster Cash, Charley Noecker, Amy Lo, Brian Mason, Phil Oakley and John Bally
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 124, No. 915 (May 2012), pp. 418-447
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Article DOI: 10.1086/666325
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/666325
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The Search for Habitable Worlds. 1. The Viability of a Starshade Mission

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Abstract(back to top)

As part of NASA’s mission to explore habitable planets orbiting nearby stars, this article explores the detection and characterization capabilities of a 4 m space telescope plus 50 m starshade located at the Earth-Sun L2 point, known as the New Worlds Observer (NWO). Our calculations include the true spectral types and distribution of stars on the sky, an iterative target selection protocol designed to maximize efficiency based on prior detections, and realistic mission constraints. We conduct simulated observing runs for a wide range in exozodiacal background levels (ε=1–100 times the local zodi brightness) and overall prevalence of Earth-like terrestrial planets (η⊕=0.1–1). We find that even without any return visits, the NWO baseline architecture (IWA=65  mas, limiting FPB=4×10-11) can achieve a 95% probability of detecting and spectrally characterizing at least one habitable Earth-like planet and an expectation value of ∼3 planets found, within the mission lifetime and ΔV budgets, even in the worst-case scenario (η⊕=0.1 and ε=100 zodis for every target). This achievement requires about 1 yr of integration time spread over the 5 yr mission, leaving the remainder of the telescope time for UV-NIR general astrophysics. Cost and technical feasibility considerations point to a “sweet spot” in starshade design near a 50 m starshade effective diameter, with 12 or 16 petals, at a distance of 70,000–100,000 km from the telescope.

Keywords:Extrasolar Planets

Bibliographic Information(back to top)

  • The Search for Habitable Worlds. 1. The Viability of a Starshade Mission
  • Margaret C. Turnbull, Tiffany Glassman, Aki Roberge, Webster Cash, Charley Noecker, Amy Lo, Brian Mason, Phil Oakley and John Bally
  • Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • Vol. 124, No. 915 (May 2012) (pp. 418-447)

  • Received 2011 July 15; accepted 2012 April 9; published 2012 May 22

Author Information(back to top)

Margaret C. Turnbull,1 Tiffany Glassman,2 Aki Roberge,3 Webster Cash,4 Charley Noecker,5 Amy Lo,2 Brian Mason,6 Phil Oakley,7 and John Bally4

Notes and References(back to top)

This item contains 74 reference(s).

This item contains 9 note(s).

REFERENCES

Notes

1 Global Science Institute, P.O. Box 252, Antigo, WI 54409; turnbull.maggie@gmail.com.

2 Northrop Grumman Corporation, One Space Park Drive, E1-4068, Redondo Beach, CA 90278.

3 Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771.

4 Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, Campus Box 389, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.

5 Civil Space Systems, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, 1600 Commerce Street, Mail Stop RA4, Boulder, CO 80301. Current address: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 306-388, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109-8001.

6 U.S. Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20392.

7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 37-582BB, Cambridge, MA 02139.

8 See http://www.nsf.gov/attachments/117235/public/Astro2010_Decadal_Survey_Report_Update.pdf.

9 See http://newworlds.colorado.edu/documents/ASMCS/asmcs_documents.htm.

© 2012. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
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