ACCESS – A Concept Study for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems
Abstract
ACCESS is one of four medium-class mission concepts selected for study in 2008-9 by NASA's Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concepts Study program. ACCESS evaluates a space observatory designed for extreme high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanetary systems. An actively-corrected coronagraph is used to suppress the glare of diffracted and scattered starlight to contrast levels required for exoplanet imaging. The ACCESS study considered the relative merits and readiness of four major coronagraph types, and modeled their performance with a NASA medium-class space telescope. The ACCESS study asks: What is the most capable medium-class coronagraphic mission that is possible with telescope, instrument, and spacecraft technologies available today? Using demonstrated high-TRL technologies, the ACCESS science program surveys the nearest 120+ AFGK stars for exoplanet systems, and surveys the majority of those for exozodiacal dust to the level of 1 zodi at 3 AU. Coronagraph technology developments in the coming year are expected to further enhance the science reach of the ACCESS mission concept.
Additional Information
© 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). August 06, 2010. The research described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Attached Files
Published - 396490.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 57828
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20150526-152227788
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Created
-
2015-05-27Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Series Name
- Proceedings of SPIE
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 7731