The Habitable Exoplanet (HabEx) Imaging Mission: preliminary science drivers and technical requirements

Bertrand Mennesson; Scott Gaudi; Sara Seager; Kerri Cahoy; Shawn Domagal-Goldman; Lee Feinberg; Olivier Guyon; Jeremy Kasdin; Christian Marois; Dimitri Mawet; Motohide Tamura; David Mouillet; Timo Prusti; Andreas Quirrenbach; Tyler Robinson; Leslie Rogers; Paul Scowen; Rachel Somerville; Karl Stapelfeldt; Daniel Stern; Martin Still; Margaret Turnbull; Jeffrey Booth; Alina Kiessling; Gary Kuan; Keith Warfield

doi:10.1117/12.2240457

24 August 2016 The Habitable Exoplanet (HabEx) Imaging Mission: preliminary science drivers and technical requirements

Bertrand Mennesson, Scott Gaudi, Sara Seager, Kerri Cahoy, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Lee Feinberg, Olivier Guyon, Jeremy Kasdin, Christian Marois, Dimitri Mawet, Motohide Tamura, David Mouillet, Timo Prusti, Andreas Quirrenbach, Tyler Robinson, Leslie Rogers, Paul Scowen, Rachel Somerville, Karl Stapelfeldt, Daniel Stern, Martin Still, Margaret Turnbull, Jeffrey Booth, Alina Kiessling, Gary Kuan, Keith Warfield

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 99040L (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2240457
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

HabEx is one of four candidate flagship missions being studied in detail by NASA, to be submitted for consideration to the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics for possible launch in the 2030s. It will be optimized for direct imaging and spectroscopy of potentially habitable exoplanets, and will also enable a wide range of general astrophysics science. HabEx aims to fully characterize planetary systems around nearby solar-type stars for the first time, including rocky planets, possible water worlds, gas giants, ice giants, and faint circumstellar debris disks. In particular, it will explore our nearest neighbors and search for signs of habitability and biosignatures in the atmospheres of rocky planets in the habitable zones of their parent stars. Such high spatial resolution, high contrast observations require a large (roughly greater than 3.5m), stable, and diffraction-limited optical space telescope. Such a telescope also opens up unique capabilities for studying the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies. We present some preliminary science objectives identified for HabEx by our Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT), together with a first look at the key challenges and design trades ahead.

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Bertrand Mennesson, Scott Gaudi, Sara Seager, Kerri Cahoy, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Lee Feinberg, Olivier Guyon, Jeremy Kasdin, Christian Marois, Dimitri Mawet, Motohide Tamura, David Mouillet, Timo Prusti, Andreas Quirrenbach, Tyler Robinson, Leslie Rogers, Paul Scowen, Rachel Somerville, Karl Stapelfeldt, Daniel Stern, Martin Still, Margaret Turnbull, Jeffrey Booth, Alina Kiessling, Gary Kuan, and Keith Warfield "The Habitable Exoplanet (HabEx) Imaging Mission: preliminary science drivers and technical requirements", Proc. SPIE 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 99040L (24 August 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2240457

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