American Astronomical Society Meeting Kissimmee, FL, January 2016

Technology Needs for the Direct Imaging of Exo-Earths Nick Siegler (nsiegler@jpl.nasa.gov) Program Chief Technologist NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech

© 2016 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. CL#15-5803

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External Occulters (Starshades)

Internal Occulters (Coronagraphs)

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Starlight Suppression Approaches

Driving Requirements for Imaging Exo-Earths

New Worlds Telescope

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Driving Requirements

1

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Coronagraph architectures

Detection Sensitivity

Angular Resolution

Contrast

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Deformable mirrors

Image post-processing

Contrast Stability

Low-order wavefront sensing and control

Large monolith

Segmented

Segment phasing and rigid body sensing and control

Telescope vibration sensing and control

Coronagraph Technology Needs

Ultra-low noise visible and infrared detectors

Starshade Technology Needs

Precision Deployable Structures

Lateral Formation Flying Sensing

Diffraction and Scattered Light Control

Optical demonstration and model validation

Solar glint

Inner disk deployment

Lateral formation sensing

Petal unfurling

Petal shape

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NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Technology Gap Lists

Coronagraph Technology Gap List

http://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/

Starshade Technology Gap List

Next update on Jan 19, 2016

Are there any missing technologies?

Please let us know!

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Acknowledgements  

This work was conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration © Copyright California Institute of Technology Government sponsorship acknowledged