We present Hyperion, a mission concept recently proposed to the December 2021 NASA Medium Explorer announcement of opportunity. Hyperion explores the formation and destruction of molecular clouds and planet-forming disks in nearby star-forming regions of the Milky Way. It does this using long-slit high-resolution spectroscopy of emission from fluorescing molecular hydrogen, which is a powerful far-ultraviolet (FUV) diagnostic. Molecular hydrogen (H2) is the most abundant molecule in the universe and a key ingredient for star and planet formation but is typically not observed directly because its symmetric atomic structure and lack of a dipole moment mean there are no spectral lines at visible wavelengths and few in the infrared. Hyperion uses molecular hydrogen’s wealth of FUV emission lines to achieve three science objectives: (1) determining how star formation is related to molecular hydrogen formation and destruction at the boundaries of molecular clouds, (2) determining how quickly and by what process massive star feedback disperses molecular clouds, and (3) determining the mechanism driving the evolution of planet-forming disks around young solar-analog stars. Hyperion conducts this science using a straightforward, highly efficient, single-channel instrument design. Hyperion’s instrument consists of a 48-cm primary mirror with an f/5 focal ratio. The spectrometer has two modes, both covering 138.5- to 161.5-nm bandpasses. A low resolution mode has a spectral resolution of R ≥ 10,000 with a slit length of 65 arcmin, whereas the high-resolution mode has a spectral resolution of R ≥ 50,000 over a slit length of 5 armin. Hyperion occupies a 2-week-long high-earth lunar resonance TESS-like orbit and conducts 2 weeks of planned observations per orbit, with time for downlinks and calibrations. Hyperion was reviewed as category I, which is the highest rating possible but was not selected.
Launching a starshade to rendezvous with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) would provide the first opportunity to directly image the habitable zones (HZs) of nearby sunlike stars in the coming decade. A report on the science and feasibility of such a mission was recently submitted to NASA as a probe study concept. The driving objective of the concept is to determine whether Earth-like exoplanets exist in the HZs of the nearest sunlike stars and have biosignature gases in their atmospheres. With the sensitivity provided by this telescope, it is possible to measure the brightness of zodiacal dust disks around the nearest sunlike stars and establish how their population compares with our own. In addition, known gas-giant exoplanets can be targeted to measure their atmospheric metallicity and thereby determine if the correlation with planet mass follows the trend observed in the Solar System and hinted at by exoplanet transit spectroscopy data. We provide the details of the calculations used to estimate the sensitivity of Roman with a starshade and describe the publicly available Python-based source code used to make these calculations. Given the fixed capability of Roman and the constrained observing windows inherent for the starshade, we calculate the sensitivity of the combined observatory to detect these three types of targets, and we present an overall observing strategy that enables us to achieve these objectives.
The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx), was one of four candidate flagship missions studied in detail by NASA, which were submitted for consideration to the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics for possible launch in the 2030s. For the first time in human history, technologies have matured sufficiently to enable an affordable space-based telescope mission capable of discovering and characterizing Earthlike planets orbiting nearby bright sun-like stars to search for signs of habitability and biosignatures. Such a mission can also be equipped with instrumentation that will enable broad and exciting general astrophysics and planetary science not possible from current or planned facilities. HabEx was designed to be the Great Observatory of the 2030s and beyond, with unique imaging and multi-object spectroscopic capabilities at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to near-IR.
The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) is one of the four large mission concepts being studied by NASA as input to the upcoming 2020 Decadal Survey. The mission implements two world-class General Astrophysics instruments as part of its complement of instrumentation to enable compelling science using the 4m aperture. The Ultraviolet Spectrograph has been designed to address cutting edge far ultraviolet (FUV) science that has not been possible with the Hubble Space Telescope, and to open up a wide range of capabilities that will advance astrophysics as we look into the 2030s. Our paper discusses some of those science drivers and possible applications, which range from Solar System science, to nearby and more distant studies of star formation, to studies of the circumgalactic and intergalactic mediums. We discuss the performance features of the instrument that include a large 3’x3’ field of view for multi-object spectroscopy, and some 20 grating modes.
The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory, or HabEx, has been designed to be the Great Observatory of the 2030s. For the first time in human history, technologies have matured sufficiently to enable an affordable space-based telescope mission capable of discovering and characterizing Earthlike planets orbiting nearby bright sunlike stars to search for signs of habitability and biosignatures. Such a mission can also be equipped with instrumentation that will enable broad and exciting general astrophysics and planetary science not possible from current or planned facilities. HabEx is a space telescope with unique imaging and multi-object spectroscopic capabilities at wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to near-IR. These capabilities allow for a broad suite of compelling science that cuts across the entire NASA astrophysics portfolio. HabEx has three primary science goals: (1) Seek out nearby worlds and explore their habitability; (2) Map out nearby planetary systems and understand the diversity of the worlds they contain; (3) Enable new explorations of astrophysical systems from our own solar system to external galaxies by extending our reach in the UV through near-IR. This Great Observatory science will be selected through a competed GO program, and will account for about 50% of the HabEx primary mission. The preferred HabEx architecture is a 4m, monolithic, off-axis telescope that is diffractionlimited at 0.4 μm and is in an L2 orbit. HabEx employs two starlight suppression systems: a coronagraph and a starshade, each with their own dedicated instrument.
The Habitable-Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) is a candidate flagship mission being studied by NASA and the astrophysics community in preparation of the 2020 Decadal Survey. The first HabEx mission concept that has been studied is a large (~4m) diffraction-limited optical space telescope, providing unprecedented resolution and contrast in the optical, with extensions into the near ulttraviolet and near infrared domains. We report here on our team’s efforts in defining a scientifically compelling HabEx mission that is technologically executable, affordable within NASA’s expected budgetary envelope, and timely for the next decade. We also briefly discuss our plans to explore less ambitious, descoped missions relative to the primary mission architecture discussed here.
The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) Study is one of four studies sponsored by NASA for consideration by the 2020 Decadal Survey Committee as a potential flagship astrophysics mission. A primary science directive of HabEx would be to image and characterize potential habitable exoplanets around nearby stars. As such, the baseline design of the HabEx observatory includes two complimentary starlight suppression systems that reveal the reflected light from the exoplanet – an internal coronagraph instrument, and an external, formation-flying starshade occulter. In addition, two general astrophysics instruments are baselined: a high-resolution ultraviolet spectrograph, and an ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared (UV/Vis/NIR), multi-purpose, wide-field imaging camera and spectrograph. In this paper, we present the baseline architecture concept for a 4m HabEx telescope, including key requirements and a description of the mission and payload designs.
KEYWORDS: Exoplanets, Solar system, Astrophysics, UV optics, Galactic astronomy, Space telescopes, Near ultraviolet, Near infrared, Planets, Scientific research
The Habitable-Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) is a candidate flagship mission being studied by NASA and the astrophysics community in preparation of the 2020 Decadal Survey. The HabEx mission concept is a large (~4 to 6.5m) diffraction-limited optical space telescope, providing unprecedented resolution and contrast in the optical, with extensions into the near UV and near infrared domains.
The primary goal of HabEx is to answer fundamental questions in exoplanet science, searching for and characterizing potentially habitable worlds, providing the first complete “family portraits” of planets around our nearest Sun-like neighbors and placing the solar system in the context of a diverse set of exoplanets.
At the same time, HabEx will enable a broad range of Galactic, extragalactic, and solar system astrophysics, from resolved stellar population studies that inform the stellar formation history of nearby galaxies, to characterizing the life cycle of baryons as they flow in and out of galaxies, to detailed studies of bodies in our own solar system.
We report here on our team’s efforts in defining a scientifically compelling HabEx mission that is technologically executable, affordable within NASA’s expected budgetary envelope, and timely for the next decade. In particular, we present architectures trade study results, quantify technical requirements and predict scientific yield for a small number of design reference missions, all with broad capabilities in both exoplanet science and cosmic origins science.
This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) concept has been designed to enable an extensive suite of science, broadly put under the rubric of General Astrophysics, in addition to its exoplanet direct imaging science. General astrophysics directly addresses multiple NASA programmatic branches, and HabEx will enable investigations ranging from cosmology, to galaxy evolution, to stellar population studies, to exoplanet transit spectroscopy, to Solar System studies. This poster briefly describes one of the two primary HabEx General Astrophysics instruments, the HabEx Workhorse Camera (HWC). HWC will be a dual-detector UV-to-near-IR imager and multi-object grism spectrometer with a microshutter array and a moderate (3' x 3') field-of-view. We detail some of the key science we expect HWC to undertake, emphasizing unique capabilities enabled by a large-aperture, highly stable space-borne platform at these
wavelengths.
This paper provides an overview of a feasible design architecture that satisfies the strict pointing requirements for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) Architecture A mission concept. Microthruster technology has matured significantly in recent years, with high specific impulse and low-level disturbance making microthrusters the prime candidate for high-precision pointing in upcoming space telescope missions. HabEx’s Architecture A concept utilizes microthrusters as the main actuators for the attitude control system pointing mode and a fine steering piezo-electric-operated mirror is utilized in the inner finepointing loop of the attitude control system. Sensing is undertaken using a high-resolution, low-noise focal-plane camera that can support high readout speeds (> 100 Hz), in addition to a state-of-the-art low-order wavefront sensor, which is currently under technology development for NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
We present an update to our paper from last year on the design and capabilities of the Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instrument on the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) concept. The design has been matured to be both more compact and serviceable while delivering all the required capabilities that the original Science Traceability Matrix (STM) demanded. Since last year the project has begun design considerations for a second Architecture for the overall mission, and we present design changes that optimize the performance of the instrument when combined with that Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA). Results of a start at a community driven Design Reference Mission (DRM) are also included to illustrate the anticipated performance of the instrument.
HabEx is one of four candidate flagship missions being studied in detail by NASA, to be submitted for consideration to
the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics for possible launch in the 2030s. It will be optimized for direct
imaging and spectroscopy of potentially habitable exoplanets, and will also enable a wide range of general astrophysics
science. HabEx aims to fully characterize planetary systems around nearby solar-type stars for the first time, including
rocky planets, possible water worlds, gas giants, ice giants, and faint circumstellar debris disks. In particular, it will
explore our nearest neighbors and search for signs of habitability and biosignatures in the atmospheres of rocky planets
in the habitable zones of their parent stars. Such high spatial resolution, high contrast observations require a large
(roughly greater than 3.5m), stable, and diffraction-limited optical space telescope. Such a telescope also opens up
unique capabilities for studying the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies. We present some preliminary science
objectives identified for HabEx by our Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT), together with a first look at
the key challenges and design trades ahead.
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