Twinkle: a small satellite spectroscopy mission for the next phase of exoplanet science

Ian Stotesbury; Billy Edwards; Jean-Francois Lavigne; Vasco Pesquita; James Veilleux; Philip Windred; Ahmed Al-Refaie; Lawrence Bradley; Sushang Ma; Giorgio Savini; Giovanna Tinetti; Til Birnstiel; Sally Dodson-Robinson; Barbara Ercolano; Dax Feliz; Nina Hernitschek; Daniel Holdsworth; Ing-Guey Jiang; Matt Griffin; Nataliea Lowson; Karan Molaverdikhani; Hilding Neilson; Caprice Phillips; Thomas Preibisch; Subhajit Sarkar; Keivan G. Stassun; Derek Ward-Thompson; Duncan Wright; Ming Yang; Li-Chin Yeh; Ji-Lin Zhou; Richard Archer; Yoga Barrathwaj Raman Mohan; Max Joshua; Marcell Tessenyi; Jonathan Tennyson; Benjamin Wilcock

doi:10.1117/12.2641373

27 August 2022 Twinkle: a small satellite spectroscopy mission for the next phase of exoplanet science

Ian Stotesbury, Billy Edwards, Jean-Francois Lavigne, Vasco Pesquita, James Veilleux, Philip Windred, Ahmed Al-Refaie, Lawrence Bradley, Sushang Ma, Giorgio Savini, Giovanna Tinetti, Til Birnstiel, Sally Dodson-Robinson, Barbara Ercolano, Dax Feliz, Nina Hernitschek, Daniel Holdsworth, Ing-Guey Jiang, Matt Griffin, Nataliea Lowson, Karan Molaverdikhani, Hilding Neilson, Caprice Phillips, Thomas Preibisch, Subhajit Sarkar, Keivan G. Stassun, Derek Ward-Thompson, Duncan Wright, Ming Yang, Li-Chin Yeh, Ji-Lin Zhou, Richard Archer, Yoga Barrathwaj Raman Mohan, Max Joshua, Marcell Tessenyi, Jonathan Tennyson, Benjamin Wilcock

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12180, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 1218033 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2641373
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Conference Poster

Abstract

With a focus on off-the-shelf components, Twinkle is the first in a series of cost competitive small satellites managed and financed by Blue Skies Space Ltd. The satellite is based on a high-heritage Airbus platform that will carry a 0.45 m telescope and a spectrometer which will provide simultaneous wavelength coverage from 0.5–4.5 μm. The spacecraft prime is Airbus Stevenage while the telescope is being developed by Airbus Toulouse and the spectrometer by ABB Canada. Scheduled to begin scientific operations in 2025, Twinkle will sit in a thermally-stable, sun-synchronous, low-Earth orbit. The mission has a designed operation lifetime of at least seven years and, during the first three years of operation, will conduct two large-scale survey programmes: one focused on Solar System objects and the other dedicated to extrasolar targets. Here we present an overview of the architecture of the mission, refinements in the design approach, and some of the key science themes of the extrasolar survey.

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Ian Stotesbury, Billy Edwards, Jean-Francois Lavigne, Vasco Pesquita, James Veilleux, Philip Windred, Ahmed Al-Refaie, Lawrence Bradley, Sushang Ma, Giorgio Savini, Giovanna Tinetti, Til Birnstiel, Sally Dodson-Robinson, Barbara Ercolano, Dax Feliz, Nina Hernitschek, Daniel Holdsworth, Ing-Guey Jiang, Matt Griffin, Nataliea Lowson, Karan Molaverdikhani, Hilding Neilson, Caprice Phillips, Thomas Preibisch, Subhajit Sarkar, Keivan G. Stassun, Derek Ward-Thompson, Duncan Wright, Ming Yang, Li-Chin Yeh, Ji-Lin Zhou, Richard Archer, Yoga Barrathwaj Raman Mohan, Max Joshua, Marcell Tessenyi, Jonathan Tennyson, and Benjamin Wilcock "Twinkle: a small satellite spectroscopy mission for the next phase of exoplanet science", Proc. SPIE 12180, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 1218033 (27 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2641373

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