THE PLANETARY REPORT MARCH EQUINOX 2019 VOLUME 39, NUMBER 1 Planetary.Org
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The Tierras Observatory: an Ultra-Precise Photometer to Characterize Nearby Terrestrial Exoplanets
The Tierras Observatory: An ultra-precise photometer to characterize nearby terrestrial exoplanets Juliana Garc´ıa-Mej´ıaa, David Charbonneaua, Daniel Fabricanta, Jonathan M. Irwina, Robert Fataa, Joseph M. Zajaca, and Peter E. Dohertya aCenter for Astrophysics Harvard and Smithsonian, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge MA j ABSTRACT We report on the status of the Tierras Observatory, a refurbished 1.3-m ultra-precise fully-automated photometer located at the F. L. Whipple Observatory atop Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. Tierras is designed to limit systematic errors, notably precipitable water vapor (PWV), to 250 ppm, enabling the characterization of terrestrial planet transits orbiting < 0:3 R stars, as well as the potential discovery of exo-moons and exo-rings. The design choices that will enable our science goals include: a four-lens focal reducer and field-flattener to increase the field-of-view of the telescope from a 11:940 to a 0:48◦ side; a custom narrow bandpass (40:2 nm FWHM) filter centered around 863:5 nm to minimize PWV errors known to limit ground-based photometry of red dwarfs; and a deep-depletion 4K 4K CCD with a 300ke- full well and QE> 85% in our bandpass, operating in frame transfer mode. We are also× pursuing the design of a set of baffles to minimize the significant amount of scattered light reaching the image plane. Tierras will begin science operations in early 2021. Keywords: ultra-precise photometry, terrestrial planet detection, exoplanet instrumentation, transit method 1. INTRODUCTION The construction of observatories tailor-built to routinely achieve precise photometry from the ground is mo- tivated by the multitude of exoplanetary and stellar phenomena whose exploration will be enabled with high- cadence, ultra-precise time series of diverse stellar targets. -
The Solar Cruiser Mission: Demonstrating Large Solar Sails for Deep Space Missions
The Solar Cruiser Mission: Demonstrating Large Solar Sails for Deep Space Missions Les Johnson*, Frank M. Curran**, Richard W. Dissly***, and Andrew F. Heaton* * NASA Marshall Space Flight Center ** MZBlue Aerospace NASA Image *** Ball Aerospace Solar Sails Derive Propulsion By Reflecting Photons Solar sails use photon “pressure” or force on thin, lightweight, reflective sheets to produce thrust. NASA Image 2 Solar Sail Missions Flown (as of October 2019) NanoSail-D (2010) IKAROS (2010) LightSail-1 (2015) CanX-7 (2016) InflateSail (2017) NASA JAXA The Planetary Society Canada EU/Univ. of Surrey Earth Orbit Interplanetary Earth Orbit Earth Orbit Earth Orbit Deployment Only Full Flight Deployment Only Deployment Only Deployment Only 3U CubeSat 315 kg Smallsat 3U CubeSat 3U CubeSat 3U CubeSat 10 m2 196 m2 32 m2 <10 m2 10 m2 3 Current and Planned Solar Sail Missions CU Aerospace (2018) LightSail-2 (2019) Near Earth Asteroid Solar Cruiser (2024) Univ. Illinois / NASA The Planetary Society Scout (2020) NASA NASA Earth Orbit Earth Orbit Interplanetary L-1 Full Flight Full Flight Full Flight Full Flight In Orbit; Not yet In Orbit; Successful deployed 6U CubeSat 90 Kg Spacecraft 3U CubeSat 86 m2 >1200 m2 3U CubeSat 32 m2 20 m2 4 Near Earth Asteroid Scout The Near Earth Asteroid Scout Will • Image/characterize a NEA during a slow flyby • Demonstrate a low cost asteroid reconnaissance capability Key Spacecraft & Mission Parameters • 6U cubesat (20cm X 10cm X 30 cm) • ~86 m2 solar sail propulsion system • Manifested for launch on the Space Launch System (Artemis 1 / 2020) • 1 AU maximum distance from Earth Leverages: combined experiences of MSFC and JPL Close Proximity Imaging Local scale morphology, with support from GSFC, JSC, & LaRC terrain properties, landing site survey Target Reconnaissance with medium field imaging Shape, spin, and local environment NEA Scout Full Scale EDU Sail Deployment 6 Solar Cruiser Mission Concept Mission Profile Solar Cruiser may launch as a secondary payload on the NASA IMAP mission in October, 2024. -
Materials Challenges for the Starshot Lightsail
PERSPECTIVE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0075-8 Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail Harry A. Atwater 1*, Artur R. Davoyan1, Ognjen Ilic1, Deep Jariwala1, Michelle C. Sherrott 1, Cora M. Went2, William S. Whitney2 and Joeson Wong 1 The Starshot Breakthrough Initiative established in 2016 sets an audacious goal of sending a spacecraft beyond our Solar System to a neighbouring star within the next half-century. Its vision for an ultralight spacecraft that can be accelerated by laser radiation pressure from an Earth-based source to ~20% of the speed of light demands the use of materials with extreme properties. Here we examine stringent criteria for the lightsail design and discuss fundamental materials challenges. We pre- dict that major research advances in photonic design and materials science will enable us to define the pathways needed to realize laser-driven lightsails. he Starshot Breakthrough Initiative has challenged a broad nanocraft, we reveal a balance between the high reflectivity of the and interdisciplinary community of scientists and engineers sail, required for efficient photon momentum transfer; large band- Tto design an ultralight spacecraft or ‘nanocraft’ that can reach width, accounting for the Doppler shift; and the low mass necessary Proxima Centauri b — an exoplanet within the habitable zone of for the spacecraft to accelerate to near-relativistic speeds. We show Proxima Centauri and 4.2 light years away from Earth — in approxi- that nanophotonic structures may be well-suited to meeting such mately -
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Feasibility study for a near term demonstration of laser-sail propulsion from the ground to Low Earth Orbit Edward E. Montgomery IV Nexolve/Jacobs ESSSA Group Les Johnson NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Herbert D. Thomas NASA Marshall Space Flight Center ABSTRACT This paper adds to the body of research related to the concept of propellant-less in-space propulsion utilizing an external high energy laser (HEL) to provide momentum to an ultra-lightweight (gossamer) spacecraft. It has been suggested that the capabilities of Space Situational Awareness assets and the advanced analytical tools available for fine resolution orbit determination make it possible to investigate the practicalities of a ground to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) demonstration at delivered power levels that only illuminate a spacecraft without causing damage to it. The degree to which this can be expected to produce a measurable change in the orbit of a low ballistic coefficient spacecraft is investigated. Key system characteristics and estimated performance are derived for a near term mission opportunity involving the LightSail 2 spacecraft and laser power levels modest in comparison to those proposed previously by Forward, Landis, or Marx. [1,2,3] A more detailed investigation of accessing LightSail 2 from Santa Rosa Island on Eglin Air Force Base on the United States coast of the Gulf of Mexico is provided to show expected results in a specific case. 1. BACKGROUND The design and construction of the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 solar sail demonstration spacecraft has captured, in space flight hardware, the concept of small, yet capable spacecraft. The results of recent achievements in high power solid state lasers, adaptive optics, and precision tracking have also made it possible to access the effectiveness and reduced cost of an entry level laser power source. -
Lightsail 2 Set to Launch in June “We Are Go for Launch!” Said Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye
Lightsail 2 set to launch in June “We are go for launch!” said Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. Funded by space enthusiasts, LightSail 2 aims to accomplish the 1st-ever, controlled solar sail flight in Earth orbit next month. Writing at the Planetary Society’s blog, Jason Davis this week (May 13, 2019) described the upcoming challenge of the launch of LightSail 2, a little spacecraft literally powered by sunbeams and dear to the hearts of many. He wrote: Weighing just 5 kilograms, the loaf-of-bread-sized spacecraft, known as a CubeSat, is scheduled to lift A one-unit CubeSat measures 10 centimeters per side. off on June 22, 2019, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy LightSail is a three-unit CubeSat measuring 10 by 10 by 30 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Once in centimetres. Here, an early LightSail model sits next to a space, LightSail 2 will deploy a boxing ring-sized solar loaf of bread for size comparison. sail and attempt to raise its orbit using the gentle push from solar photons. It’s the culmination of a 10-year project with an origin story linked to the three scientist-engineers who founded The Planetary Society in 1980. Indeed, although the Lightsail 2 project itself is 10 years old, the idea for lightsail or solar sail spacecraft goes back decades, at least. Carl Sagan – who was one of those Planetary Society founders -- popularized the idea for our time. Now the mantle for popularizing lightsails, and helping to bring the dream many steps closer to reality, has been passed to Bill Nye, the current CEO of the Planetary Society. -
Arxiv:2008.02789V1 [Astro-Ph.EP] 6 Aug 2020 Common Planet Size; and Compact Multiple Planet Sys- Tems
Draft version August 7, 2020 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX63 LOW ALBEDO SURFACES OF LAVA WORLDS Zahra Essack ,1, 2 Sara Seager ,1, 3, 4 and Mihkel Pajusalu 1, 5 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 2Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 3Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 4Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 5Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Observatooriumi 1, 61602 Toravere, Estonia (Accepted June 12, 2020) Submitted to ApJ ABSTRACT Hot super Earths are exoplanets with short orbital periods (< 10 days), heated by their host stars to temperatures high enough for their rocky surfaces to become molten. A few hot super Earths exhibit high geometric albedos (> 0.4) in the Kepler band (420-900 nm). We are motivated to determine whether reflection from molten lava and quenched glasses (a product of rapidly cooled lava) on the surfaces of hot super Earths contributes to the observationally inferred high geometric albedos. We experimentally measure reflection from rough and smooth textured quenched glasses of both basalt and feldspar melts. For lava reflectance values, we use specular reflectance values of molten silicates from non-crystalline solids literature. Integrating the empirical glass reflectance function and non-crystalline solids reflectance values over the dayside surface of the exoplanet at secondary eclipse yields an upper limit for the albedo of a lava-quenched glass planet surface of ∼0.1. -
Espinsights the Global Space Activity Monitor
ESPInsights The Global Space Activity Monitor Issue 2 May–June 2019 CONTENTS FOCUS ..................................................................................................................... 1 European industrial leadership at stake ............................................................................ 1 SPACE POLICY AND PROGRAMMES .................................................................................... 2 EUROPE ................................................................................................................. 2 9th EU-ESA Space Council .......................................................................................... 2 Europe’s Martian ambitions take shape ......................................................................... 2 ESA’s advancements on Planetary Defence Systems ........................................................... 2 ESA prepares for rescuing Humans on Moon .................................................................... 3 ESA’s private partnerships ......................................................................................... 3 ESA’s international cooperation with Japan .................................................................... 3 New EU Parliament, new EU European Space Policy? ......................................................... 3 France reflects on its competitiveness and defence posture in space ...................................... 3 Germany joins consortium to support a European reusable rocket......................................... -
The Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-Survey
ariel The Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey Towards an H-R Diagram for Planets A Candidate for the ESA M4 Mission TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 1 2 Science Case ................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 The ARIEL Mission as Part of Cosmic Vision .................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Background: highlights & limits of current knowledge of planets ....................................... 3 2.1.2 The way forward: the chemical composition of a large sample of planets .............................. 4 2.1.3 Current observations of exo-atmospheres: strengths & pitfalls .......................................... 4 2.1.4 The way forward: ARIEL ....................................................................................... 5 2.2 Key Science Questions Addressed by Ariel ....................................................................... 6 2.3 Key Q&A about Ariel ................................................................................................. 6 2.4 Assumptions Needed to Achieve the Science Objectives ..................................................... 10 2.4.1 How do we observe exo-atmospheres? ..................................................................... 10 2.4.2 Targets available for ARIEL .................................................................................. -
FY13 High-Level Deliverables
National Optical Astronomy Observatory Fiscal Year Annual Report for FY 2013 (1 October 2012 – 30 September 2013) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945 13 December 2013 Revised 18 September 2014 Contents NOAO MISSION PROFILE .................................................................................................... 1 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 2 2 NOAO ACCOMPLISHMENTS ....................................................................................... 4 2.1 Achievements ..................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Status of Vision and Goals ................................................................................. 5 2.2.1 Status of FY13 High-Level Deliverables ............................................ 5 2.2.2 FY13 Planned vs. Actual Spending and Revenues .............................. 8 2.3 Challenges and Their Impacts ............................................................................ 9 3 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS .............................................................. 11 3.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ....................................................... 11 3.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory ....................................................................... 14 3.3 Gemini Observatory ........................................................................................ -
Blue Dots Team Transits Working Group Review
**FULL TITLE** ASP Conference Series, Vol. **VOLUME**, **YEAR OF PUBLICATION** **NAMES OF EDITORS** Blue Dots Team Transits Working Group Review A. Sozzetti1, C. Afonso2, R. Alonso3, D. L. Blank4, C. Catala5, H. Deeg6, J. L. Grenfell7, C. Hellier8, D. W. Latham9, D. Minniti10, F. Pont11, and H. Rauer12 Abstract. Transiting planet systems offer an unique opportunity to obser- vationally constrain proposed models of the interiors (radius, composition) and atmospheres (chemistry, dynamics) of extrasolar planets. The spectacular suc- cesses of ground-based transit surveys (more than 60 transiting systems known to-date) and the host of multi-wavelength, spectro-photometric follow-up stud- ies, carried out in particular by HST and Spitzer, have paved the way to the next generation of transit search projects, which are currently ongoing (CoRoT, Kepler), or planned. The possibility of detecting and characterizing transiting Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone of their parent stars appears tanta- lizingly close. In this contribution we briefly review the power of the transit technique for characterization of extrasolar planets, summarize the state of the art of both ground-based and space-borne transit search programs, and illustrate how the science of planetary transits fits within the Blue Dots perspective. 1. Introduction Within the framework of the Blue-Dots Team (BDT) initiative (http://www.blue-dots.net/), the primary goal of the Transits Working Group (TWG) is to gauge the potential and limitations of transit photometry (and follow-up measurements) as a tool 1INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, Strada Osservatorio 20, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy 2Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, K¨onigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany 3Observatoire de Gen´eve, Universit´ede Gen`eve, 51 Ch. -
Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2009-2011
PlanetaryPlanetary ScienceScience DecadalDecadal SurveySurvey 2009-20112009-2011 David H. Smith Space Studies Board, National Research Council Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials Houston, Texas, 6 October, 2009 OrganizationOrganization ofof thethe DecadalDecadal SurveySurvey SteeringSteering GroupGroup SteveSteve Squyres,Squyres, ChairChair LarryLarry SoderblomSoderblom,, ViceVice ChairChair ViceVice ChairsChairs ofof PanelsPanels 99 othersothers InnerInner PlanetsPlanets GiantGiant PlanetsPlanets PrimitivePrimitive BodiesBodies PanelPanel PanelPanel PanelPanel EllenEllen StofanStofan,, ChairChair HeidiHeidi Hammel,Hammel, ChairChair JosephJoseph VeverkaVeverka,, ChairChair StephenStephen MackwellMackwell,, ViceVice ChairChair AmyAmy Simon-Miller,Simon-Miller, ViceVice ChairChair HarryHarry Y.Y. McSweenMcSween,, ViceVice ChairChair 1010 othersothers 99 othersothers 1010 othersothers MarsMars GiantGiant PlanetPlanet SatellitesSatellites PanelPanel PanelPanel PhilipPhilip Christensen,Christensen, ChairChair JohnJohn Spencer,Spencer, ChairChair WendyWendy Calvin,Calvin, ViceVice ChairChair DavidDavid Stevenson,Stevenson, ViceVice ChairChair 1111 othersothers 1010 othersothers 2 OverallOverall ScheduleSchedule 2008-20112008-2011 2008 4th Quarter Informal request received, NRC approves initiation, Formal request received, Proposal to NASA. 2009 1st Quarter Funding received, Chair identified, Chair and vice chair appointed 2nd Quarter Steering Group appointed, Panels Appointed 3rd Quarter Meetings of the Steering -
Part 1: the 1.7 and 3.9 Earth Radii Rule
Hi this is Steve Nerlich from Cheap Astronomy www.cheapastro.com and this is What are exoplanets made of? Part 1: The 1.7 and 3.9 earth Radii rule. As of August 2016, the current count of confirmed exoplanets is up around 3,400 in 2,617 systems – with 590 of those systems confirmed to be multiplanet systems. And the latest thinking is that if you want to understand what exoplanets are made of you need to appreciate the physical limits of planet-hood, which are defined by the boundaries of 1.7 and 3.9 Earth radii . Consider that the make-up of an exoplanet is largely determined by the elemental make up of its protoplanetary disk. While most material in the Universe is hydrogen and helium – these are both tenuous gases. In order to generate enough gravity to hang on to them, you need a lot of mass to start with. So, if you’re Earth, or anything up to 1.7 times the radius of Earth – you’ve got no hope of hanging onto more than a few traces of elemental hydrogen and helium. Indeed, any exoplanet that’s less than 1.7 Earth radii has to be primarily composed of non-volatiles – that is, things that don’t evaporate or blow away easily – to have any chance of gravitationally holding together. A non-volatile exoplanet might be made of rock – which for our Solar System is a primarily silicon/oxygen based mineral matrix, but as we’ll hear, small sub-1.7 Earth radii exoplanets could be made of a whole range of other non-volatile materials.