A Thousand Earths: A Very Large Aperture, Ultralight Space Telescope Array for Atmospheric Biosignature Surveys. (arXiv:1906.05079v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Apai_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Daniel Apai</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Milster_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Tom D. Milster</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kim_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Dae Wook Kim</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bixel_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alex Bixel</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Schneider_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">Glenn Schneider</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Liang_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ronguang Liang</a> (University of Arizona), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Arenberg_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jonathan Arenberg</a> (Northrop-Grumman Aerospace Systems)
An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the
diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them.
This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most
ambitious designs yet hope to characterize several dozen potentially habitable
planets. Such a sample may be too small to truly understand the complexity of
exo-earths. We describe here a notional concept for a novel space observatory
designed to characterize 1,000 transiting exo-earth candidates. The Nautilus
concept is based on an array of inflatable spacecraft carrying very large
diameter (8.5m), very low-weight, multi-order diffractive optical elements
(MODE lenses) as light-collecting elements. The mirrors typical to current
space telescopes are replaced by MODE lenses with a 10 times lighter areal
density that are 100 times less sensitive to misalignments, enabling
light-weight structure. MODE lenses can be cost-effectively replicated through
molding. The Nautilus mission concept has a potential to greatly reduce
fabrication and launch costs, and mission risks compared to the current space
telescope paradigm through replicated components and identical, light-weight
unit telescopes. Nautilus is designed to survey transiting exo-earths for
biosignatures up to a distance of 300 pc, enabling a rigorous statistical
exploration of the frequency and properties of life-bearing planets and the
diversity of exo-earths.
An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the
diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them.
This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most
ambitious designs yet hope to characterize several dozen potentially habitable
planets. Such a sample may be too small to truly understand the complexity of
exo-earths. We describe here a notional concept for a novel space observatory
designed to characterize 1,000 transiting exo-earth candidates. The Nautilus
concept is based on an array of inflatable spacecraft carrying very large
diameter (8.5m), very low-weight, multi-order diffractive optical elements
(MODE lenses) as light-collecting elements. The mirrors typical to current
space telescopes are replaced by MODE lenses with a 10 times lighter areal
density that are 100 times less sensitive to misalignments, enabling
light-weight structure. MODE lenses can be cost-effectively replicated through
molding. The Nautilus mission concept has a potential to greatly reduce
fabrication and launch costs, and mission risks compared to the current space
telescope paradigm through replicated components and identical, light-weight
unit telescopes. Nautilus is designed to survey transiting exo-earths for
biosignatures up to a distance of 300 pc, enabling a rigorous statistical
exploration of the frequency and properties of life-bearing planets and the
diversity of exo-earths.
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