Optical design considerations for the Terrestrial Planet Finder–Coronagraph mission: optical telescope assembly

Joseph M. Howard; Pantazis Mouroulis; Anita Thompson; Andrew Smith; David Content; Timothy Ho; Clifton Jackson; Raymond G. Ohl; Stuart B. Shaklan

doi:10.1117/12.618380

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31 August 2005 Optical design considerations for the Terrestrial Planet Finder-Coronagraph mission: optical telescope assembly

Joseph M. Howard, Pantazis Mouroulis, Anita Thompson, Andrew Smith, David Content, Timothy Ho, Clifton Jackson, Raymond G. Ohl, Stuart B. Shaklan

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Proceedings Volume 5874, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering VI; 58740I (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.618380
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Terrestrial Planet Finder-Coronagraph (TPF-C) is a NASA exploration mission to directly detect and characterize terrestrial exoplanets at visible wavelengths. The TPF-C observatory must be able to distinguish a planet that is more than 10 orders of magnitude fainter than its parent star at a separation of 75 milli-arc-seconds (mas). Coronagraphic detection requires a large aperture telescope to resolve the exoplanet from its star, and extreme stability during detection and characterization observations. This paper discusses the requirements and trade studies leading to the current baseline optical design for the TPF-C telescope. The current baseline design is summarized and its prescription is presented.

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Joseph M. Howard, Pantazis Mouroulis, Anita Thompson, Andrew Smith, David Content, Timothy Ho, Clifton Jackson, Raymond G. Ohl, and Stuart B. Shaklan "Optical design considerations for the Terrestrial Planet Finder-Coronagraph mission: optical telescope assembly", Proc. SPIE 5874, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering VI, 58740I (31 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.618380

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