New Worlds Observer: Minotaur to Ares V

Amy S. Lo; Tiffany Glassman; Dean Dailey; Charles F. Lillie; Webster Cash; Philip Oakley

doi:10.1117/12.788056

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12 July 2008 New Worlds Observer: Minotaur to Ares V

Amy S. Lo, Tiffany Glassman, Dean Dailey, Charles F. Lillie, Webster Cash, Philip Oakley

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Proceedings Volume 7010, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter; 70101W (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788056
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2008, Marseille, France

Abstract

As currently envisioned, New Worlds Observer is a NASA flagship class mission, designed to fulfill the Terrestrial Planet Finding mission objectives with a much more flexible architecture than the current TPF design concepts. In this paper, we discuss the scalability of NWO for a variety of telescope sizes and briefly discuss the associated science capability. In particular, the paper will address in detail three mission categories: medium, large, and future mission concepts. Medium missions are missions with life cycle costs under $600 million dollars, including a version of NWO that may potentially fit within a MIDEX budget. Large missions are flagship missions that involve significant science returns on a Observatory class level; this is our current realization of NWO for the TPF mission. Future concepts use the NWO architecture, in conjunction with enabling technologies such as in-space servicing, to solve long-term NASA missions such as Lifefinder and Planet Imager. We present a multi-starshade NWO architecture designed for launch on an Ares V launch vehicle as an example of a future concept.

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Amy S. Lo, Tiffany Glassman, Dean Dailey, Charles F. Lillie, Webster Cash, and Philip Oakley "New Worlds Observer: Minotaur to Ares V", Proc. SPIE 7010, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter, 70101W (12 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788056

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