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NASA NTRS2008

First Science with the Keck Interferometer Nuller High Spatial Resolution N-Band Observations of the Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi

We report observations of the nova RS 0phiuchi using the Keck Interferometer Nuller (KIN) taken approximately 3.8 days following the most recent outburst that occurred on 2006 February 12. The KIN operates in N-band from approx. 8 to 12.5 microns in a nulling mode - the sparse aperture equivalent of the conventional coronagraphic technique used in filled aperture te1escopes. In this mode the stellar light is suppressed by a destructive fringe, effectively enhancing the contrast of the circumstellar material located near the star. In a second, constructive-fringe mode, the instrument detects primarily the light from the central, bright source. These are the outer and inner spatial regimes, resprectively. We will describe the capabilities of the KIN, including these unique modes, and outline how they were key in our discovery that dust does not appear to be created in the outburst as in previous models, but instead was created between nova events. We also show how these first results from the KIN are consistent with Spitzer data. The KIN data show evidence of enhanced neutral atomic hydrogen emission and atomic metals including silicon located in the inner spatial regime near the white dwarf (WD) relative to the outer regime. There are also nebular emission lines and evidence of hot silicate dust in the outer spatial region, centered at approximately 17 AU from the WD, that are not found in the inner regime. The KIN and Spitzer data suggest that these emissions were excited by the nova flash in the outer spatial regime before the blast wave reached these regions. We describe the present results in terms of a new model for dust creation in recurrent novae that includes an increase in density in the plane of the orbit of the two stars created by a spiral shock wave caused by the motion of the stars through the cool wind of the red giant star. These data show the power and potential of the nulling technique which has been developed for the detection of Earth-like planets around nearby stars for the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin missions.

Barry, Richard K.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Taking the Measure of the Universe : Precision Astrometry with SIM PlanetQuest

Precision astrometry at microarcsecond accuracy has application to a wide range of astrophysical problems. This paper is a study of the science questions that can be addressed using an instrument with flexible scheduling that delivers parallaxes at about 4 microarcsec (microns)as) on targets as faint as V = 20, and differential accuracy of 0.6 (microns)as on bright targets. The science topics are drawn primarily from the Team Key Projects, selected in 2000, for the Space Interferometry Mission PlanetQuest (SIM PlanetQuest). We use the capabilities of this mission to illustrate the importance of the next level of astrometric precision in modern astrophysics. SIM PlanetQuest is currently in the detailed design phase, having completed in 2005 all of the enabling technologies needed for the flight instrument. It will be the first space-based long baseline Michelson interferometer designed for precision astrometry. SIM will contribute strongly to many astronomical fields including stellar and galactic astrophysics, planetary systems around nearby stars, and the study of quasar and AGN nuclei. Using differential astrometry SIM will search for planets with masses as small as an Earth orbiting in the 'habitable zone' around the nearest stars, and could discover many dozen if Earth-like planets are common. It will characterize the multiple-planet systems that are now known to exist, and it will be able to search for terrestrial planets around all of the candidate target stars in the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin mission lists. It will be capable of detecting planets around young stars, thereby providing insights into how planetary systems are born and how they evolve with time. Precision astrometry allows the measurement of accurate dynamical masses for stars in binary systems. SIM will observe significant numbers of very high- and low-mass stars, providing stellar masses to 1%, the accuracy needed to challenge physical models. Using precision proper motion measurements, SIM will probe the Galactic mass distribution, and through studies of tidal tails, the formation and evolution of the Galactic halo. SIM will contribute to cosmology through improved accuracy of the Hubble Constant. With repeated astrometric measurements of the nuclei of active galaxies, SIM will probe the dynamics of accretion disks around supermassive black holes, and the relativistic jets that emerge from them.

Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer a Low Complexity, Low Cost Space Mission for High-Resolution Astronomy and Direct Exoplanet Detection

The Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer (FKSI) is a mission concept for a spacecraft-borne nulling interferometer for high-resolution astronomy and the direct detection of exoplanets and assay of their environments and atmospheres. FKSI is a high angular resolution system operating in the near to midinfrared spectral region and is a scientific and technological pathfinder to the Darwin and Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) missions. The instrument is configured with an optical system consisting, depending on configuration, of two 0.5 - 1.0 m telescopes on a 12.5 - 20 m boom feeding a symmetric, dual Mach- Zehnder beam combiner. We report on progress on our nulling testbed including the design of an optical pathlength null-tracking control system and development of a testing regime for hollow-core fiber waveguides proposed for use in wavefront cleanup. We also report results of integrated simulation studies of the planet detection performance of FKSI and results from an in-depth control system and residual optical pathlength jitter analysis.

Barry, R. K.↗
NASA NTRS2007

High-Resolution N-Band Observations of the Nova RS Ophiuchi with the Keck Interferometer Nuller

We report new observations of the nova RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) using the Keck Interferometer Nulling Instrument, approximately 3.8 days following the most recent outburst that occurred on 2006 February 12. The Keck Interferometer Nuller (KIN) operates in K-band from 8 to 12.5 pm in a nulling mode, which means that the central broad-band interference fringe is a dark fringe - with an angular width of 25 mas at mid band - rather than the bright fringe used ill a conventional optical interferometer. In this mode the stellar light itself is suppressed by the destructive fringe, effectively enhancing the contrast of the circumstellar material located near the star. By subsequently shifting the neighboring bright fringe onto the center of the source brightness distribution and integrating, a second spatial regime dominated by light from the central portion of the source is almost simultaneously sampled. The nulling technique is the sparse aperture equivalent of the conventional corongraphic technique used in filled aperture telescopes. By fitting the unique KIK inner and outer spatial regime data, we have obtained an angular size of the mid-infrared continuum of 6.2, 4.0. or 5.4 mas for a disk profile, gaussian profile (fwhm), and shell profile respectively. The data show evidence of enhanced neutral atomic hydrogen emission located in the inner spatial regime relative to the outer regime. There is also evidence of a 9.7 micron silicate feature seen outside of this region. Importantly, we see spectral lines excited by the nova flash in the outer region before the blast wave reaches these regions. These lines are from neutral, weakly excited atoms which support the following interpretation. We discuss the present results in terms of a unifying model of the system that includes an increase in density in the plane of the orbit of the two stars created by a spiral shock wave caused by the motion of the stars through the cool wind of the red giant star. These data show the power and potential of the nulling technique which has been developed for the detection of Earth-like planets around nearby stars for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission and Darwin missions.

Barry, R. K.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Conceptual Design of the TPF-O SC Buses

The Terrestrial Planet Finder - Occulter (TPF-O) mission has two Spacecraft (SC) buses, one for a space telescope and the other for a formation-flying occulter. SC buses typically supply the utilities (support structures, propulsion, attitude control, power, communications, etc) required by the payloads. Unique requirements for the occulter SC bus are to provide the large delta V required for the slewing maneuvers of the occulter, and comunications for formation flying. The TPF-O telescope SC bus shares some key features of the one for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST): both support space telescopes designed to observe in the visible to near infrared range of wavelengths with comparable primary mirror apertures (2.4 m for HST, 2.4 - 4.0 m for TPF-O). However, TPF-O is expected to have a Wide Field Camera (WFC) with a Field of View (FOV) much larger than that of HST. Ths WFC is also expected to provide fine guidance. TPF-O is designed to operate in an orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange 2 (SEL2) point. The longer communications range to SEL2 and the large science FOV require higher performance communications than HST. Maintaining a SEL2 orbit requires TPF-O, unlike HST, to have a propulsion system. The velocity required for reachng SEL2 and the limited capabilities of affordable launch vehicles require both TPF-O elements to have compact, low-mass designs. Finally, it is possible that TPF-O may utilize a modular design derived fiom that of HST to allow servicing in the SEL2 orbit.

Purves, Lloyd R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Effects of Instrumental Elliptical Polarization on Stellar Point Spread Function Fine Structure

We present procedures and preliminary results from a study on the effects of instrumental polarization on the fine structure of the stellar point spread function (PSF). These effects are important to understand because the the aberration caused by instrumental polarization on an otherwise diffraction-limited will likely have have severe consequences for extreme high contrast imaging systems such as NASA's planned Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission and the proposed NASA Eclipse mission. The report here, describing our efforts to examine these effects, includes two parts: 1) a numerical analysis of the effect of metallic reflection, with some polarization-specific retardation, on a spherical wavefront; 2) an experimental approach for observing this effect, along with some preliminary laboratory results. While the experimental phase of this study requires more fine-tuning to produce meaningful results, the numerical analysis indicates that the inclusion of polarization-specific phase effects (retardation) results in a point spread function (PSF) aberration more severe than the amplitude (reflectivity) effects previously recorded in the literature.

high angular resolution↗
NASA NTRS2006

Testing the TPF Interferometry Approach before Launch

One way to directly detect nearby extra-solar planets is via their thermal infrared emission, and with this goal in mind, both NASA and ESA are investigating cryogenic infrared interferometers. Common to both agencies' approaches to faint off-axis source detection near bright stars is the use of a rotating nulling interferometer, such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder interferometer (TPF-I), or Darwin. In this approach, the central star is nulled, while the emission from off-axis sources is transmitted and modulated by the rotation of the off-axis fringes. Because of the high contrasts involved, and the novelty of the measurement technique, it is essential to gain experience with this technique before launch. Here we describe a simple ground-based experiment that can test the essential aspects of the TPF signal measurement and image reconstruction approaches by generating a rotating interferometric baseline within the pupil of a large singleaperture telescope. This approach can mimic potential space-based interferometric configurations, and allow the extraction of signals from off-axis sources using the same algorithms proposed for the space-based missions. This approach should thus allow for testing of the applicability of proposed signal extraction algorithms for the detection of single and multiple near-neighbor companions...

interferometry↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Case Study in High Contrast Coronagraph for Planet Discovery: The Eclipse Concept and Support Laboratory Experience

Eclipse is a proposed NASA Discovery mission to perform a sensitive imaging survey of nearby planetary systems, including a survey for jovian-sized planets orbiting Sun-like stars to distances of 15 pc. We outline the science objectives of the Eclipse mission and review recent developments in the key enabling technologies. Eclipse is a space telescope concept for high-contrast visible-wavelength imaging and spectrophotometry. Its design incorporates a telescope with an unobscured aperture of 1.8 meters, a coronographic camera for suppression of diffracted light, and precise active wavefront correction for the suppression of scattered background light. For reference, Eclipse is designed to reduce the diffracted and scattered starlight between 0.33 and 1.5 arcseconds from the star by three orders of magnitude compared to any HST instrument. The Eclipse mission provides precursor science exploration and technology experience in support of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) program.

coronagraphic imaging testbed↗
NASA NTRS2008

Multiple-Cone Sunshade for a Spaceborne Telescope

A document describes a sunshade assembly for the spaceborne telescope of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph mission. During operation, the telescope is aimed at target stars in the semihemisphere away from the Earth's Sun. The observatory rotates about its pointing axis during a single star observation, resulting in relative movement of the Sun. The sunshade assembly protects the telescope against excessive solar-induced thermal distortions for times long enough to complete observations. The assembly includes a cylindrical baffle immediately surrounding the telescope, and a series of coaxial conical shields at half-cone angle increments of between 3 and 6. The black inner surface of the cylindrical baffle suppresses stray light. The outer surface of the cylindrical baffle and all the surfaces of the conical shields except the outermost one are specular and highly reflective in the infrared. The outer surface of the outer shield is a material with low solar absorptance and high infrared emittance, such as silverized Teflon or white paint. This arrangement strongly radiatively couples each shield layer more effectively to cold space than to adjacent shield layers. The result is that the solar-driven temperature gradients in the cylindrical baffle are nearly negated, and only weakly communicated to the highly-infrared-reflective face of the primary telescope mirror.

Cafferty, Terry↗
NASA NTRS2009

Design Enhancements of the Fourier Kelvin Stellar Interferometer to Enable Detection of Earth Twins

During the last few years, considerable effort has been directed towards very large-scale (> $5 billion) missions to detect and characterize Mars-radius to Earth-radius planets around nearby stars; such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder Interferometer and Darwin missions. However, technological issues such as formation flying and control of systematic noise sources will likely prevent these missions from entering Phase A until at least the end of the next decade. Presently more than 350 planets have been discovered by a variety of techniques, and little is known about the majority of them other than their approximate mass. However, a simplified nulling interferometer operating in the near- to mid-infrared (e.g. approx. 5-15 microns), like the enhanced version of the Fourier Kelvin Stellar Interferometer (FKSI), can characterize the atmospheres of a large sample of the known planets - including Earth twins. Many other scientific problems can be addressed with a system like FKSI, including the studies of debris disks, active galactic nuclei, and low mass companions around nearby stars. We report results of a recent engineering study on an enhanced version of FKSI that includes 1-meter primary mirrors, 20-meter boom length, and an advanced sun shield that will provide a 45-degree FOR and 40K operating temperature for all optics including siderostats.

Barry, Richard K.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Astrometric Planet Searches with SIM PlanetQuest

SIM will search for planets with masses as small as the Earth's orbiting in the habitable zones' around more than 100 of the stars and could discover many dozen if Earth-like planets are common. With a planned 'Deep Survey' of 100-450 stars (depending on desired mass sensitivity) SIM will search for terrestrial planets around all of the candidate target stars for future direct detection missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin, SIM's 'Broad Survey' of 2010 stars will characterize single and multiple-planet systems around a wide variety of stellar types, including many now inaccessible with the radial velocity technique. In particular, SIM will search for planets around young stars providing insights into how planetary systems are born and evolve with time.

formation solar system↗
NASA NTRS2010

Designs and Materials for Better Coronagraph Occulting Masks

New designs, and materials appropriate for such designs, are under investigation in an effort to develop coronagraph occulting masks having broad-band spectral characteristics superior to those currently employed. These designs and materials are applicable to all coronagraphs, both ground-based and spaceborne. This effort also offers potential benefits for the development of other optical masks and filters that are required (1) for precisely tailored spatial transmission profiles, (2) to be characterized by optical-density neutrality and phase neutrality (that is, to be characterized by constant optical density and constant phase over broad wavelength ranges), and/or (3) not to exhibit optical- density-dependent phase shifts. The need for this effort arises for the following reasons: Coronagraph occulting masks are required to impose, on beams of light transmitted through them, extremely precise control of amplitude and phase according to carefully designed transmission profiles. In the original application that gave rise to this effort, the concern has been to develop broad-band occulting masks for NASA s Terrestrial Planet Finder coronagraph. Until now, experimental samples of these masks have been made from high-energy-beam-sensitive (HEBS) glass, which becomes locally dark where irradiated with a high-energy electron beam, the amount of darkening depending on the electron-beam energy and dose. Precise mask profiles have been written on HEBS glass blanks by use of electron beams, and the masks have performed satisfactorily in monochromatic light. However, the optical-density and phase profiles of the HEBS masks vary significantly with wavelength; consequently, the HEBS masks perform unsatisfactorily in broad-band light. The key properties of materials to be used in coronagraph occulting masks are their extinction coefficients, their indices of refraction, and the variations of these parameters with wavelength. The effort thus far has included theoretical predictions of performances of masks that would be made from alternative materials chosen because the wavelength dependences of their extinction coefficients and their indices of refraction are such that that the optical-density and phase profiles of masks made from these materials can be expected to vary much less with wavelength than do those of masks made from HEBS glass. The alternative materials considered thus far include some elemental metals such as Pt and Ni, metal alloys such as Inconel, metal nitrides such as TiN, and dielectrics such as SiO2. A mask as now envisioned would include thin metal and dielectric films having stepped or smoothly varying thicknesses (see figure). The thicknesses would be chosen, taking account of the indices of refraction and extinction coefficients, to obtain an acceptably close approximation of the desired spatial transmittance profile with a flat phase profile

Balasubramanian, Kunjithapatham↗
NASA NTRS2006

Polarization Phase-Compensating Coats for Metallic Mirrors

A method of compensating for or minimizing phase differences between orthogonal polarizations of light reflected from metallic mirrors at oblique incidence, as, for example, from weakly curved mirrors, is undergoing development. The method is intended to satisfy a need to maintain precise polarization phase relationships or minimum polarization differences needed for proper operation of telescopes and other scientific instruments that include single or multiple mirrors. The basic idea of the method is to optimally coat mirrors with thin engineered layers of materials that introduce phase differences that, as nearly precisely as possible, are opposite of the undesired phase differences arising in reflection with non-optimum coatings. Depending on the specific optical system, the method could involve any or all of the following elements: a) Optimization of a single coat on all the mirrors in the system. b) Optimization of a unique coat for each mirror such that the polarization phase effects of the coat on one mirror compensate, to an acceptably high degree over an acceptably wide wavelength range, for those of the coat on another mirror. c) Tapering the coat on each mirror. Optimization could involve the choice of a single dielectric coating material and its thickness, or design of a more complex coat consisting of multiple layers of different dielectric materials and possibly some metallic materials. Such designs and coatings are particularly significant and needed for obtaining very high quality of wavefront required in high-contrast imaging instruments such as the NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph.

Balasubramanian, Kunjithapatham↗
NASA NTRS2010

Deformable Mirrors Correct Optical Distortions

By combining the high sensitivity of space telescopes with revolutionary imaging technologies consisting primarily of adaptive optics, the Terrestrial Planet Finder is slated to have imaging power 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. To this end, Boston Micromachines Corporation, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for space-based adaptive optical technology. The work resulted in a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) called the Kilo-DM. The company now offers a full line of MEMS DMs, which are being used in observatories across the world, in laser communication, and microscopy.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

General Tool for Evaluating High-Contrast Coronagraphic Telescope Performance Error Budgets

The Coronagraph Performance Error Budget (CPEB) tool automates many of the key steps required to evaluate the scattered starlight contrast in the dark hole of a space-based coronagraph. The tool uses a Code V prescription of the optical train, and uses MATLAB programs to call ray-trace code that generates linear beam-walk and aberration sensitivity matrices for motions of the optical elements and line-of-sight pointing, with and without controlled fine-steering mirrors (FSMs). The sensitivity matrices are imported by macros into Excel 2007, where the error budget is evaluated. The user specifies the particular optics of interest, and chooses the quality of each optic from a predefined set of PSDs. The spreadsheet creates a nominal set of thermal and jitter motions, and combines that with the sensitivity matrices to generate an error budget for the system. CPEB also contains a combination of form and ActiveX controls with Visual Basic for Applications code to allow for user interaction in which the user can perform trade studies such as changing engineering requirements, and identifying and isolating stringent requirements. It contains summary tables and graphics that can be instantly used for reporting results in view graphs. The entire process to obtain a coronagraphic telescope performance error budget has been automated into three stages: conversion of optical prescription from Zemax or Code V to MACOS (in-house optical modeling and analysis tool), a linear models process, and an error budget tool process. The first process was improved by developing a MATLAB package based on the Class Constructor Method with a number of user-defined functions that allow the user to modify the MACOS optical prescription. The second process was modified by creating a MATLAB package that contains user-defined functions that automate the process. The user interfaces with the process by utilizing an initialization file where the user defines the parameters of the linear model computations. Other than this, the process is fully automated. The third process was developed based on the Terrestrial Planet Finder coronagraph Error Budget Tool, but was fully automated by using VBA code, form, and ActiveX controls.

Marchen, Luis F.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Flight-Like Ground Demonstrations of Precision Maneuvers for Spacecraft Formations

Synchronized formation rotations are a common maneuver for planned precision formations. In such a rotation, attitudes remain synchronized with relative positions, as if the spacecraft were embedded in a virtual rigid body. Further, since synchronized rotations are needed for science data collection, this maneuver requires the highest precision control of formation positions and attitudes. A recently completed, major technology milestone for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Interferometer is the high-fidelity, ground demonstration of precision synchronized formation rotations. These demonstrations were performed in the Formation Control Testbed (FCT), which is a flight-like, multi-robot formation testbed. The FCT is briefly introduced, and then the synchronized rotation demonstration results are presented. An initial error budget consisting of formation simulations is used to show the connection between ground performance and TPF-I flight performance.

formation flying↗
NASA NTRS2013

High-Voltage Clock Driver for Photon-Counting CCD Characterization

A document discusses the CCD97 from e2v technologies as it is being evaluated at Goddard Space Flight Center's Detector Characterization Laboratory (DCL) for possible use in ultra-low background noise space astronomy applications, such as Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph (TPF-C). The CCD97 includes a photoncounting mode where the equivalent output noise is less than one electron. Use of this mode requires a clock signal at a voltage level greater than the level achievable by the existing CCD (charge-coupled-device) electronics. A high-voltage waveform generator has been developed in code 660/601 to support the CCD97 evaluation. The unit generates required clock waveforms at voltage levels from -20 to +50 V. It deals with standard and arbitrary waveforms and supports pixel rates from 50 to 500 kHz. The system is designed to interface with existing Leach CCD electronics.

Baker, Robert↗
NASA NTRS2011

Stability Error Budget for an Aggressive Coronagraph on a 3.8 m Telescope

We evaluate in detail the stability requirements for a band-limited coronagraph with an inner working angle as small as 2 lambda/D coupled to an off-axis, 3.8-m diameter telescope. We have updated our methodologies since presenting a stability error budget for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph mission that worked at 4 lambda/D and employed an 8th-order mask to reduce aberration sensitives. In the previous work, we determined the tolerances relative to the total light leaking through the coronagraph. Now, we separate the light into a radial component, which is readily separable from a planet signal, and an azimuthal component, which is easily confused with a planet signal. In the current study, throughput considerations require a 4th-order coronagraph. This, combined with the more aggressive working angle, places extraordinarily tight requirements on wavefront stability and opto-mechanical stability. We find that the requirements are driven mainly by coma that leaks around the coronagraph mask and mimics the localized signal of a planet, and pointing errors that scatter light into the background, decreasing SNR. We also show how the requirements would be relaxed if a low-order aberration detection system could be employed.

error budget↗