NASA NTRS · 20205003151
Imaging Earth-like Exoplanets with a Small Space Telescope
Abstract
The Cen AB system represents a particularly attractive target for missions to directly image exoplanets. A potentially habitable planet can in theory be imaged in the system with a telescope as small as 40cm, provided it has a powerful enough starlight suppression system. Technology to enable this is rapidly maturing, and there have been several mission concept studies. This technology is relevant to missions like WFIRST, LUVOIR, and HabEx because it enables them to image binary stars. Small coronagraph mission concepts described here would also complement and synergize with all the above missions. We suggest that a stronger ongoing program is needed, perhaps building on the recent Small Sat concept study initiative, to support mission concept and proposal development for Small Sats ($35M), Missions of Opportunity ($75M) and possibly up through Explorer missions.
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Ruslan Belikov, Michael William Mcelwain, Tom Barclay, Natalie M. Batalha, Eduardo Bendek, Supriya Chakrabarti, Thayne Currie, Colin Goldblatt, Olivier Guyon, N Jeremy Kasdin, Jim Kasting, Brian D Kern, Jack J Lissauer, Julien Lozi, Jared R Males, Franck Laurent Marchis, Mark S. Marley, Christian Marois, Michael W. Mcelwain, Christopher B. Mendillo, Jon A Morse, Eugene Pluzhnik, Laurent Pueyo, Billy Quarles, Elisa V Quintana, A J Eldorado Riggs, Dan Sirbu, Karl R Stapelfeldt, Margaret Turnbull. 2019-12-01. Imaging Earth-like Exoplanets with a Small Space Telescope. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20205003151
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