Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix I: Report of the Panel on Electromagnetic Observations from Space 1
Appendix I: Report of the Panel on Electromagnetic Observations from Space 1
Pages 373-397
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From page 373... ...
-funded mission study reports from the two flagships and five of the probes considered by this panel. The panel also benefited from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Exoplanet Science Strategy report1 from 2018.
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From page 374... ...
First, both the LUVOIR and HabEx teams presented a convincing case that astronomers are positioned to make a serious attempt at searching for biosignatures on exoearth candidates, which is the compelling result projected for these missions. This goal aligns with one of the principal recommendations of the Exoplanet Science Strategy report that "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
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From page 375... ...
Third, substantial technology development is still needed despite recent progress in starlight suppression techniques and ultra-stable telescopes, with at least 5 years and several hundreds of millions of dollars needed. The panel recognizes that for this level of technology development, it would be usual to choose a mission architecture to focus the technology development, but given the budgets and time scales needed, choosing a specific mission now is premature.
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From page 376... ...
Resources to subject missions to the TRACE process were limited, so the panel chose to focus primarily on LUVOIR-B and on two versions of HabEx, 4H and 3.2S, as a balance between cost and exploring a range of implementation options. Some of the probe missions received some limited study funding from NASA, while others were submitted to the decadal survey solely as white papers.
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From page 377... ...
The UVOT has made significant contributions to the study of a range of transient phenomena, not just GRBs. NASA's TESS is designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method of 200,000 nearby stars over 85 percent of the sky, an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission.
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The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope [WFIRST]
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From page 379... ...
Egerman, 2019, "HabEx Primary Mirror: ULTRA Segment Stability for Space Telescope Coronagraphy," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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From page 380... ...
I.1.5 Science Panel Inputs A crucial component in guiding the formulation of a program for the future is the identification of the most compelling science questions to be addressed in the next decade. The high-priority questions and discovery areas identified by the science panels and corresponding observational capabilities have been mapped to the capabilities proposed for the flagship missions under this panel's purview.
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From page 381... ...
G-DA LUMOS UVS UVS NOTE: LUMOS: LUVOIR Ultraviolet Multi-Object Spectrograph; HDI: High-Definition Imager; UVS: Ultraviolet Spectrograph; HWC: HabEx Workhorse Camera; SSI: Starshade Instrument. Another way to judge the breadth of the science achievable with a flagship mission comes from Table I.2, taken from the LUVOIR final report, which lists "Signature Science Cases" indicative of the sweep of science that can be addressed with such a flagship.
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From page 382... ...
Wang, and S Wolk, 2019, "The Legacy of the Great Observatories: Panchromatic Coverage as a Strategic Goal for NASA Astrophysics," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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From page 383... ...
that range from 3 to 5) , the current cost 17 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2019, The LUVOIR Final Report, NASA LUVOIR Mission Concept Study Team, https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/reports/LUVOIR_FinalReport_2019-08-26.pdf.
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From page 384... ...
Crooke, and M Bolcar, 2019, "Managing Flagship Missions to Reduce Cost and Schedule," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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From page 385... ...
This spectrum assumes that one is observing reflected light, which is possible with direct imaging using a high-performance starlight suppression system. Small-scale height features such as these absorptions would not be observable in a transmission spectrum from a transit observation for an exoearth around a Sun-like star.
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From page 386... ...
Table I.5 lists the capabilities of components both LUVOIR and HabEx instruments. Central to discussing which of these missions is needed to achieve Diffraction limited at 500 nm; 270 K the science goals telescope outlined operating temp.by the science panels is the size of the telescope's primary mirror.
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From page 387... ...
Zimmerman, 2019, "ExoEarth Yield Landscape for Future Direct Imaging Space Telescopes," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 5(2) , https://doi.org/0.1117/1.JATIS.5.2.024009.
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From page 388... ...
(C. Stark et al., 2019, "ExoEarth yield landscape for future direct imaging space telescopes," JATIS..5b4009S.)
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Mission Team Cost Estimate TRACE Cost Estimate LUVOIR-B $12.2 billion $17 billion HabEx 4H $6.8 billion $10.5 billion HabEx 3.2S $5.0 billion $7.8 billion 27 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2019, The LUVOIR Final Report, NASA LUVOIR Mission Concept Study Team, https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/luvoir/reports/LUVOIR_FinalReport_2019-08-26.pdf.
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From page 390... ...
Given the outstanding science discoveries that these exoplanet missions can accomplish but only with critical technologies that need to reach TRL 6 or above in the next 5 years, the panel suggests that NASA fund the technology tasks outlined in the LUVOIR and HabEx reports and do so over the next 5-year period, which would then flow into detailed mission architecture studies that could be completed before the next decadal survey. A key decision is the size of the primary mirror, and whether
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From page 391... ...
There is significant overlap in the advancement of coronagraph-based technologies between LUVOIR and HabEx, and high-priority technologies to mature include better coronagraph architectures to increase science yield, adaptive wavefront control algorithms that are more efficient and improve tolerance to instabilities, vacuum-compatible deformable mirrors with more actuators, post-processing algorithms, and vacuum testing of the entire starlight suppression system. High-priority starshade technologies include demonstrating starshade petal accuracy and stability, performance modeling and validation, as well as demonstrating acceptably low scattered sunlight from petal edges.Ideally, this grand technology roadmap would be funded such that it could be fully accomplished within 5 years.
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From page 392... ...
The mechanical and thermal finite element models created for JWST required significant amounts of computer power and very long run times. With the model ~3 times larger, a concern arises about the ability to solve mechanical and thermal problems (with |
From page 393... ...
Both of these increase confidence in the coronagraphic and starshade starlight suppression technologies. However, the TRL of some of the subsystems is still as low as 3.
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From page 394... ...
. "Sufficiently mature" means that the interplay between mission architecture and starlight suppression techniques can be examined in greater depth effectively.
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From page 395... ...
Given the quality of the probe missions presented to the panel, the panel found it tempting to specify the first Probe candidates. However, the panel considered the value of open competition for fostering new ideas and creativity, and suggests that the probe line AOs not specify topical areas beyond the possible technology use mentioned above.
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From page 396... ...
In doing so, the panel considered program balance, which focuses on the need to ensure that opportunities are available for the whole astrophysics community to conduct science investigations, both on the ground and in space, and across all disciplines. With respect to the EOS-1 charge for electromagnetic observations from space, the current astrophysics program of record includes a plan for four Explorer missions and four missions of opportunity per decade and extremely large flagship missions that have been taking more than 20 years to complete.
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From page 397... ...
Offering similar incentivized technology demonstration opportunities for the Explorer and probe lines in Astrophysics may offer some chance to mature technology and expand wavelength coverage and diversity of available techniques. The emerging areas of SmallSats and CubeSats are gaining the attention of astronomers.
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