| |
 |
| Paper: |
Enabling Concepts for a Dual Spacecraft Formation-Flying Optical Interferometer for NASA's ST3 Mission |
| Volume: |
194, Working on the Fringe: Optical and IR Interferometry from Ground and Space |
| Page: |
359 |
| Authors: |
Gorham, P. W.; Folkner, W. M.; Blackwood, G. H. |
| Abstract: |
Hundreds of apertures, a few meters wide and arrayed across a hundred kilometers in space, can provide snapshot images of exo-planets, where "green patches" will be searchable. "Densified-pupil imaging " is the new ingredient announcing such performance. Simulations show the Earth as it would appear from 3 parsecs, with cloud formations visible. Densified-pupil imaging has been incorporated in the Optical Very Large Array ground-based precusor, for which a prototype telescope element is under completion. Design options for 150 m (Exo-Earth Discoverer) and 150 km (Exo-Earth Imager) space arrays are presented. |
|
|
|
|
|
