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| Paper: |
Technologies Critical to Achieving TPF Performance |
| Volume: |
294, Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets |
| Page: |
645 |
| Authors: |
Kilston, S. |
| Abstract: |
Under the guidance of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and its teammates have studied many Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) design approaches and suitable technology elements, evaluating the candidate concepts' performance, cost, technology risks, and development paths. We assessed many factors relevant to extrasolar planet detection and characterization at the performance levels required for TPF; these included spectral range, inner working distance (preferably smaller than 50~mas), and integration times (preferably hours or days, not weeks) needed to search nearby planetary systems for Earth-like planets and to observe their spectral features, as well as angular resolution and fields of view useful for astrophysics. Our team investigated the critical technology issues such as wavefront quality, thermal and vibrational disturbances and control, attitude control, ease of launch and deployment, and operational reliability beyond Earth orbit, especially as relevant to visible-wavelength coronagraph approaches, and we also examined many of the issues involved in infrared interferometer approaches. |
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