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The SIM PlanetQuest science program

SIM PlanetQuest (hereafter, just SIM) is a NASA mission to measure the angular positions of stars with unprecedented accuracy. We outline the main astrophysical science programs planned for SIM, and related opportunities for community participation. We focus especially on SIM’s ability to detect exoplanets as small as the Earth around nearby stars. The planned synergy between SIM and other planet-finding missions including Kepler and GAIA, and planetcharacterizing missions including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Terrestrial Planet Finder – Coronagraph (TPF-C), and Terrestrial Planet Finder – Interferometer (TPF-I), is a key element in NASA’s Navigator Program to find Earth-like planets, determine their habitability, and search for signs of life in the universe. SIM's technology development is now complete and the project is proceeding towards a launch early next decade.

Marr, James C. IV↗

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↗

A Roadmap for NASA's Search for Other Earths

This viewgraph document describes NASA's plan for searching for other planets capable of supporting life. As part of the Vision for Space Exploration, the President requested that NASA pursue the use of advanced telescope searches for Earth-like planets and habitable environments around other stars. Several science questions are asked in the presentation and the answers to some of the questions that NASA has are shown. Plans for future telescopes are reviewed. Three missions, SIM, TPF-C and TPF-I, that are planned to examine possible extra-solar planets, how the information they will give will assist us in further understanding the process of planetary formation, and the possibility that any planet discovered is capable of life is explained.

roadmap↗

SIM PlanetQuest: Status and Recent Progress

The SIM project is approaching the end of its technology development phase. With the successful completion of a number of testbeds, including micro-arcsecond stellar interferometry, picometer optical truss metrology, and milli-kelvin thermo-optical characterization, the project is now on a sure footing for the development of requirement for the flight instrument. Here we review the latest technological progress and give a status of the project.

astrometry↗

Brassboard Astrometric Beam Combiner (ABC) Development for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM)

The Astrometric Beam Combiner (ABC) is a critical element of the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) that performs three key functions: coherently combine starlight from two siderostats; individually detect starlight for angle tracking; and disperse and detect the interferometric fringes. In addition, the ABC contains: a stimulus, cornercubes and shutters for in-orbit calibration; several tip/tilt mirror mechanisms for in-orbit alignment; and internal metrology beam launcher for pathlength monitoring. The detailed design of the brassboard ABC (which has the form, fit and function of the flight unit) is complete, procurement of long-lead items is underway, and assembly and testing is expected to be completed in Spring 2009. In this paper, we present the key requirements for the ABC, details of the completed optical and mechanical design as well as plans for assembly and alignment.

PlanetQuest↗