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Show Me the Planets! NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program

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Show Me the Planets! NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Show Me the Planets! NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Dr. Gary Blackwood, Program Manager Dr. Karl Stapelfeldt, Program Chief Engineer Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology April 27, 2017 Caltech Board of Trustees Meeting Pasadena, California © 2017 All rights reserved © 2017 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Artist concept of Kepler-16b Science Updates Discover & Characterize Program Overview: Implementing Astro2010 Priorities Plan Forward: Astro2020 Show Me the Planets! Seven ExoPlanets Above the Fold 2 Trappist-1 Discovery The Richest Set of Earth-sized Planets Ever Found Credit: NASA/JPL 3 A Familiar Habitable Zone Credit: Luc Forsyth 4 Trappist-1: a Relatively Small Star 5 How Spitzer Observed the Trappist-1 System Credit: NASA/JPL 6 Key Takeaways from Trappist Discovery • This is the richest set of Earth-sized exoplanets ever found orbiting a single star, with 3 in the habitable zone. • It shows that red dwarf stars, the most common type of star, can host rich planetary systems. More discoveries like this can be expected • The Trappist exoplanets will be top targets for future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. The presence and composition of an atmosphere can be measured through infrared spectra taken during transit; but the observations will be difficult. • Most exoplanets do not transit their star. For the general case, direct imaging remains essential for measuring atmospheres and possible biosignatures. 7 LHS 1140: Super Earth, Super Girth A Super Earth in HZ of Red Dwarf at 39 ly • 1.4 Earth radius & 7 earth masses. Surface gravity is > 3x that of the Earth • Bright enough for JWST follow-up, but small scale height will make transit spectroscopy difficult Credit: Dittman et al. 2017, Nature 8 Science Updates Discover & Characterize Program Overview: Implementing Astro2010 Priorities Plan Forward: Astro2020 Show Me the Planets! Techniques to Detect Exoplanets Doppler Spectroscopy or Radial Velocity Method 10 Techniques to Detect Exoplanets Microlensing Method 11 Confirmed Exoplanets versus Time 12 “Mamajek’s Law” Exoplanet Discovery Doubling Time Credit: J. Christenson 13 Where are the Rocky Planets? Credit: Wang et al. 2017 g bb g f cc e f e d h d Earth Rocky planets Credit: Hadden & Lithwick 2016 Credit: Gillon et al. 2017 14 Science Updates Discover & Characterize Program Overview: Implementing Astro2010 Priorities Plan Forward: Astro2020 Show Me the Planets! NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Astrophysics Division, NASA Science Mission Directorate NASA’s search for habitable planets and life beyond our solar system Program purpose described in 2014 NASA Science Plan 1. Discover planets around other stars 2. Characterize their properties 3. Identify candidates that could harbor life ExEP serves the science community and NASA by implementing NASA’s space science vision for exoplanets https://exoplanets.nasa.gov 16 NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Space Missions and Mission Studies Public Communications Kepler, WFIRST Decadal Studies K2 Starshade Coronagraph Supporting Research & Technology Key Sustaining Research NASA Exoplanet Science Institute Technology Development Coronagraph Masks Large Binocular Keck Single Aperture Telescope Interferometer Imaging and RV High-Contrast Deployable Archives, Tools, Sagan Fellowships, Imaging Starshades Professional Engagement NN-EXPLORE https://exoplanets.nasa.gov 17 Ground-Based Support for Space Missions Partnering to Enable Key Projects for Strategic Reasons Keck Observatory: (1/6 partner) Key SMD Project and GO Investigations Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer: Exozodiacal Dust Survey University of Arizona NN-EXPLORE using WIYN Telescope NEID Precision Radial Velocity Instrument 18 NASA Exoplanet Science Institute • Sagan Summer School, August 2017 “Microlensing in the Era of WFIRST” • NASA/Keck time (90 nights/yr) supports Exoplanets, Cosmic Origins, Physics of the Cosmos and Solar System Science • Exoplanet Archive tracks exoplanet population and Kepler pipeline products • Exoplanet Follow-up Observing Program supports Kepler & K2 sources follow-up 19 Three Key Kepler Results 1. On average there is at least one planet for each of the stars in the night sky 2. Small planets are the most common type in the Galaxy 3. Earth-sized (0.5 to 2 Earth radii) planets in the Habitable Zone are common 20 Kepler K2 Extending the Power of Kepler to the Ecliptic Upcoming – Changed the position of the field for Campaign 16 – Kepler will observe in the forward-facing direction; emphasis on supernova science – Release of Microlensing results from Campaign 9 https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/k2 21 Exoplanetary Occurrence Rates ExoPAG SAG13 (Belikov 2017): Preliminary Findings: Frequency h~0.6 for: • Planet size 0.5–1.5 Re • Habitable Zone per Kopparapu 2013 • G-stars Credit: NASA/Kepler/F. Fressin 22 A Gap in the Radius Distribution Reveals Two Populations of Small Planets Fulton Gap Orbital Periods < 100 days Credit: Fulton et al, 2017 23 Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Dark Energy, Infrared Survey… and Alien Worlds • WFIRST now in Phase A • Instruments: Wide-Field (near infrared) and Coronagraph (visible) • All technology milestones were met on time – Five for IR Detector, now at TRL 6 – Nine for Coronagraph, now at TRL 5 • Wide Field Instrument Industry 6-month Concept Study with Ball Aerospace and Lockheed Martin ATC • Actively studying starshade accommodation. First look: it’s feasible from cost and risk perspective. – NASA Key Decision Point B (October 2017); decide whether WFIRST should remain starshade- compatible Credit: NASA/GSFC 24 WFIRST Microlensing Census of Exoplanets Credit: D. Bennett, M. Penny 25 Internal Coronagraph Controls Diffraction to Reveal Exoplanets in “Dark Hole” 26 Exoplanet Direct Imaging In the Optical and Near-Infrared We are currently here WFIRST will take us here Need for exo-Earth Study 27 Science Updates Discover & Characterize Program Overview: Implementing Astro2010 Priorities Plan Forward: Astro2020 Show Me the Planets! WFIRST JWST2 TESS Missions PLATO Kepler CHEOPS New Worlds Spitzer Gaia Telescope 1 Hubble Habitable Exoplanet Imager CoRoT3 LUVOIR NASA ESA/European Missions Missions W. M. Keck Observatory Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer NN-EXPLORE 1 NASA/ESA Partnership 2 NASA/ESA/CSA Partnership Ground Telescopes with NASA participation 3 CNES/ESA 29 “Blue of the sky” Credit: Maggie Turnbull measures total amount “Vegetation of atmosphere jump” indicates Carbon dioxide presence of suggests possible land plants volcanic activity Methane indicates presence of anaerobic bacteria Oxygen Water and ozone vapor were produced suggests by living organisms habitability 30 Starlight Suppression is the Key Technology in the Search for Life on Earth-Size Exoplanets External Occulters (Starshades) Internal Occulters (Coronagraphs) 31 Possible New Worlds Exoplanet Telescopes (mid 2030s) Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) Large Ultra-Violet Optical Infrared Telescope (LUVOIR) Origins Space Telescope (OST) 32 Medium-Scale Space Mission Concepts Announced by NASA March 20 33 WFIRST Starshade-Ready Accommodation Study to Enable a Rendezvous at L2 • WFIRST Starshade could directly image habitable-zone exo-earths in late 2020s Coronagraph Filters 34 Coronagraph/Telescope Technology Needs Contrast Angular Resolution Coronagraph architectures Deformable mirrors Large monolith Image post-processing Segmented Contrast Stability Detection Sensitivity Wavefront sensing and control Telescope vibration sensing and control Ultra-low noise visible and infrared detectors Segment phasing and rigid body sensing and control 35 Starshade Technology Needs 1) Starlight Suppression 2) Formation Sensing and Control Suppressing scattered light off petal edges from off-axis Sunlight (S-2) Maintaining lateral offset requirement between the spacecrafts (S-3) 3) Deployment Accuracy and Shape Stability Suppressing diffracted light from on-axis starlight (S-1) S-# corresponds to ExEP Fabricating the petals Starshade Technology Gap number to high accuracy (S-4) http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/ Positioning the petals to high accuracy, blocking on-axis starlight, technology/gap-lists maintaining overall shape on a highly stable structure (S-5) 36 Early Inner Disk Deployment Trials at JPL 37 Starshade Optical Shield 38 Science Updates Discover & Characterize Program Overview: Implementing Astro2010 Priorities Plan Forward: Astro2020 Show Me the Planets! Exoplanet Travel Bureau 40 Exoplanet Travel Bureau 41 Exploring a Galaxy of Worlds while Inspiring Our Own Show Me the Planets! Introducing Baby Kepler! (Cloutier) DOB 2/6/16 • Age on Earth – 1 • Kepler 16b – 1.5 • Proxima b – 33 • Trappist-1b – 243 42 jpl.nasa.gov Acknowledgements This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. © 2017 All rights reserved. • Work was also carried out at NASA’s – Goddard Space Flight Center – Ames Research Center • Work was carried out as well under contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and – Princeton University – University of Arizona – Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems – National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Pennsylvania State University • Contributions from ExEP program leadership and staff gratefully acknowledged 44 Starshade and Coronagraph: Relative Yield • Starshades appear to provide greater yield
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