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| Paper: |
The Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer: Exploring Exoplanetary Systems with an Infrared Probe-class Mission |
| Volume: |
430, Pathways Towards Habitable Planets |
| Page: |
403 |
| Authors: |
Barry, R. K.; Danchi, W. C.; Lopez, B.; Rinehart, S. A.; Absil, O.; Augereau, J.-C.; Beust, H.; Bonfils, X.; Bordé, P.; Defrère, D.; Kern, P.; Léger, A.; Monin, J.; Mourard, D.; Ollivier, M.; Petrov, R.; Vakili, F.; FKSO Consortium |
| Abstract: |
We report results of a recent engineering study of an enhanced version of the Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer (FKSI) that includes 1-m diameter primary mirrors, a 20-m baseline, a sun shield with a ± 45° Field-of-Regard (FoR), and 40K operating temperature. The enhanced FKSI is a two-element nulling interferometer operating in the mid-infrared (e.g. ∼ 5-15 μm) designed to measure exozodiacal debris disks around nearby stars with a sensitivity better than one solar system zodi (SSZ) and to characterize the atmospheres of a large sample of known exoplanets. The modifications to the original FKSI design also allows observations of the atmospheres of many super-Earths and a few Earth twins using a combination of spatial modulation and spectral analysis. |
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