National Aeronautics and Space Administration Volume 14 Issue 3 Spring 2018 www.nasa.gov Volume 14 • Issue 3 • Spring 2018 SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics Where Do We Go from Here? NASA Teams Study Four Possible Next-Generation Astrophysics Missions What does NASA’s future look like? Will the next- “This is game time for astrophysics,” said Susan generation telescope investigate the first black Neff, chief scientist of NASA’s Cosmic Origins holes in the distant universe or will it look for life on Program. “We want to build all these concepts, but an Earth-like planet light-years away? As in past we don’t have the budget to do all four at the same decades, the agency won’t make that decision in time. The point of these decadal studies is to give a vacuum or without understanding the technical members of the astrophysics community the best obstacles, which are formidable. possible information as they decide which science to do first.” Already, teams of experts from across the agency, goddard’s emerging technologies goddard’s academia, and industry are studying four potential Goddard is playing a vital role in the effort. Center • flagship missions that the science community has scientists and engineers are participating in all four vetted as worthy pursuits under the 2020 Decadal studies and leading two: the Large Ultraviolet/Opti- edge Survey for Astrophysics. All four teams recently cal/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) and the Origins submitted interim reports. Next year, they are Space Telescope (OST). Meanwhile, NASA’s Jet expected to finish final reports that the National Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Marshall Research Council then will use to inform its recom- Space Flight Center are, respectively, leading the cutting mendations to NASA in a couple years. Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) and the X-ray Surveyor, known as Lynx (see sidebar, page 3). Continued on page 4 in this issue: 2 Special Report: 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics 2 Where Do We Go from Here? Spring 3 2020 Decadal Survey Missions: At a Glance 9 Emerging Microgap Cooling Tech to be Tested Aboard Reusable Launch Vehicle 2018 11 “Third Time’s a Charm”: Heliophysics Wins Pathfinding CubeSat Mission 13 XNAV Considered for CubeSat Mission and Human Exploration 15 Goddard Comes A Long Way: Four Teams Selected Under New Frontiers 18 Carbon-Nanotube Technology Eyed for Different Instrument Applications About the Cover Goddard’s Aki Roberge (left) and Dave Leisawitz are study scientists for two Goddard-led investigations looking into potential next-generation ob- servatories to succeed the James Webb Space Telescope. Their findings — as well as those of two other NASA teams — will inform the National Re- search Council’s 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics. Due next year, the studies outline the observatories’ science goals and technology obstacles, which researchers say are formidable. Photo Credit: Bill Hrybyk/NASA You can now share this issue with your friends and colleagues via your own social-media channels. Click the Share button to begin. PAGE 2 www.nasa.gov/gsfctechnology Volume 14 • Issue 3 • Spring 2018 SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics 2020 Decadal Survey Missions: At a Glance Any telescope that reaches the launch pad in the Herschel Space Observatory, OST would offer the 2030s will likely look much different than the 10,000 times more sensitivity than any preceding concepts four teams are currently studying to far-infrared telescope. inform the 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics, but the studies do offer a roadmap. Here’s a brief overview of each: goddard’s emerging technologies goddard’s goddard’s emerging technologies goddard’s • • edge edge Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) cutting LUVOIR, now being studied by a Goddard team, cutting is conceived as a great observatory in the tradi- The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is leading the tion of the Hubble Space Telescope. LUVOIR will HabEx study. This observatory would directly im- tell the story of life by searching for signs of life age planetary systems around Sun-like stars. By on exoplanets and exploring the cosmic origins of measuring the spectra of these planets, HabEx life. Its specific capabilities will span exoplanetary would search for signatures of habitability, includ- science, general astrophysics, and solar system ing water, oxygen, or ozone. It would also study science. As its name implies, LUVOIR would the early universe and the lifecycle of massive cover wavelengths from the far ultraviolet to the stars. Like LUVOIR, HabEx would be sensitive to near infrared and its primary mirror could be up to ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths. six times larger than Hubble’s. Lynx Origins Space Telescope (OST) Lynx, which the Marshall Space Flight Center is OST, another concept that a Goddard team is studying, would investigate the universe in X-rays. investigating, would be extraordinarily sensitive It is expected to offer a two orders-of-magnitude in the mid- to far-infrared wavelengths. Through leap in sensitivity over Chandra and the European imaging and spectroscopy, it would probe the Space Agency’s Advanced Telescope for High- early universe, trace the path of water through Energy Astrophysics, or Athena, which is due to star and planet formation, and search for signs of launch in 2028. It would detect X-rays from black life in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Considered holes at the centers of the first galaxies and from a follow-on to the Spitzer Space Telescope and young stars and their planetary systems. www.nasa.gov/gsfctechnology PAGE 3 Volume 14 • Issue 3 • Spring 2018 SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics Regardless of which mission NASA ultimately se- answer how life began, what conditions are vital for lects or the technologies it flies, the agency and in- the formation of stars and galaxies, and perhaps dividual centers have begun investing in advanced most compellingly, is Earth rare in the cosmos? tools needed to pursue these bold, breakthrough concepts in the future, said Thai Pham, the technol- “LUVOIR will search for signs of life, but it doesn’t ogy development manager for NASA’s Astrophysics stop there. It will tell us how life got there and how Program Office. “I’m not saying it will be easy. It rare life is in the cosmos,” said Shawn Domagal- won’t be,” he continued. “These are ambitious mis- Goldman, deputy study scientist. “This mission is sions, with significant technical challenges, many ambitious,” agreed study scientist Aki Roberge, “but of which overlap and apply to all. The good news is finding out if there is life outside the solar system is that the groundwork is being laid now.” the prize. All the technology tall poles are driven by this goal.” Unprecedented Picometer-Level Stability To directly image Earth-sized planets and assess goddard’s emerging technologies goddard’s their atmospheres, LUVOIR would have to acquire • LUVOIR provides a case in point. light from a relatively tiny object at least 10 billion One concept of the observatory envisions a super- times fainter than the star it encircles. This would sized, segmented primary mirror about 49 feet in be like discerning an object no wider than a edge diameter. With this behemoth, LUVOIR could help Continued on page 5 cutting Photo Credit: STScI and NASA Photo Credit: The Space Telescope Science Institute has created a testbed for evaluating different coronagraphic approaches primarily for a mission called LUVOIR. Here is one possible solution: a mask coated with carbon nanotubes fashioned to modify the pattern of diffracted light. The inset photo is a close-up view of the testbed and the gold-colored carbon-nanotube mask. PAGE 4 www.nasa.gov/gsfctechnology Volume 14 • Issue 3 • Spring 2018 SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics Photo Credit: Bill Hrybyk/NASANASA Photo Credit: goddard’s emerging technologies goddard’s • edge cutting (From left to right): Technologists Lee Feinberg, Babak Saif, and Eli Griff-McMahon have created an ultra-stable thermal-vacuum system that they are using to make picometer-level measurements necessary for LUVOIR. human hair from a distance of two football fields, blocking starlight) will result in picometer accuracy,” Roberge said. Roberge said. “It’s all about control.” To do this, LUVOIR’s optics and associated hard- Already a Goddard team has begun developing ware must be ultra-stable; that is, these compo- laboratory tools that can dynamically detect picom- nents can’t move or distort more than 12 picom- eter-sized distortions that occur when materials eters — a measurement smaller than the size of used to build telescopes shrink or expand due to a hydrogen atom. Not only would the observatory wildly fluctuating temperatures or when exposed to have to maintain these exacting standards while fierce launch forces. Should NASA select LUVOIR making a measurement, so would its mirror seg- as its next flagship mission, NASA could use this ments. tool to assure that the agency builds an observatory to these benchmarks (CuttingEdge, Like the 21-foot primary mirror on the James Webb Winter 2018, Page 8). Space Telescope, LUVOIR’s mirror would be made up of adjustable segments that would unfold after Suppressing Starlight: launch. Because capturing light from a faint and A Shared Technical Challenge distant source would require a precisely focused wavefront, actuators or motors attached to the back HabEx, though physically smaller than LUVOIR, of each mirror would then actively adjust and align would also directly image planetary systems and the segments to achieve a perfect focus. analyze the composition of the planets’ atmospheres. Like LUVOIR, “Physical stability, plus active control on the primary mirror and an internal coronagraph (a device for Continued on page 6 www.nasa.gov/gsfctechnology PAGE 5 Volume 14 • Issue 3 • Spring 2018 SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Decadal Survey for Astrophysics it, too, must fly technologies to block the parent star’s bright light and create a dark NASA Image Credit: zone revealing the presence of an Earth-sized planet.