Habitable planet finder

Thomas D. Ditto

doi:10.1117/12.926343

21 September 2012 Habitable planet finder

Thomas D. Ditto

Proceedings Volume 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 84424A (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926343
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

A notional space telescope configuration is presented that addresses issues of angular resolution, spectral bandwidth and rejection of host star glare by means of a double dispersion architecture. The telescope resolves angle by wavelength. In an earlier embodiment for surveys, a primary objective grating telescope architecture was shown to acquire millions of objects in one observation cycle, one wave length at a time. The proposed HPF can detect exquisite spectral signatures out of millions of wavelengths in albedos - one exoplanetary system at a time. Like its predecessor, the new HPF telescope has a ribbon-shaped flat gossamer membrane primary objective that lends itself to space deployment, but the preferred embodiment uses a holographic optical element rather than a plane grating. The HOE provides an improvement in efficiency at select wavelength bands. The considerable length of the membrane can be in the 100 meter class providing angular resolution sufficient to resolve planets in the habitable zone and also spectral resolution sufficient to earmark habitability. A novel interferometric secondary spectrograph rejects host star glare. However, the architecture cannot disambiguate multiple stellar sources and may require unprecedented focal lengths in the primary objective to isolate one system at a time.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas D. Ditto "Habitable planet finder", Proc. SPIE 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 84424A (21 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926343

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