The Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will demonstrate the highcontrast technology necessary for visible-light exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy from space via direct imaging of Jupiter-size planets and debris disks. This in-space experience is a critical step toward future, larger missions targeted at direct imaging of Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. This paper presents an overview of the current instrument design and requirements, highlighting the critical hardware, algorithms, and operations being demonstrated. We also describe several exoplanet and circumstellar disk science cases enabled by these capabilities. A competitively selected Community Participation Program team will be an integral part of the technology demonstration and could perform additional CGI observations beyond the initial tech demo if the instrument performance warrants it.
One of the key science goals of the Coronograph Instrument (CGI) on the WFIRST mission is to spectrally characterize the atmospheres of planets around other stars at extremely high contrast levels. To achieve this goal, the CGI instrument will include a integral field spectrograph (IFS) as one of the two science cameras. We present the current science requirements that pertain to the IFS design, describe how our design implementation flows from these requirements, and outline our current instrument design.
Exciting concepts are under development for flagship, probe class, explorer class, and suborbital class NASA missions in the ultraviolet/optical spectral range. These missions will depend on high-performance silicon detector arrays being delivered affordably and in high numbers. To that end, we have advanced delta-doping technology to high-throughput and high-yield wafer-scale processing, encompassing a multitude of state-of-the-art silicon-based detector formats and designs. We have embarked on a number of field observations, instrument integrations, and independent evaluations of delta-doped arrays. We present recent data and innovations from JPL’s Advanced Detectors and Systems Program, including two-dimensional doping technology, JPL’s end-to-end postfabrication processing of high-performance UV/optical/NIR arrays and advanced coatings for detectors. While this paper is primarily intended to provide an overview of past work, developments are identified and discussed throughout. Additionally, we present examples of past, in-progress, and planned observations and deployments of delta-doped arrays.
We present preliminary results for the calibration and flight performance of the Long-Slit Imaging Dual Order Spectrograph
(LIDOS), a rocket-borne instrument with a large dynamic range in the 900 - 1650 Å bandpass. The instrument observes
UV-bright objects with a CCD channel and fainter nebulosity with an MCP detector. The image quality and the detector
quantum efficiencies were determined using the calibration and test equipment at the Johns Hopkins University, and further
monitored using an on-board electron-impact calibration lamp. We review results from each of the three flights of the
instrument.
KEYWORDS: Galactic astronomy, Camera shutters, Stars, Sensors, Photons, Telescopes, Near ultraviolet, Ionization, Spectroscopy, James Webb Space Telescope
We explore the design of a space mission called Project Lyman that has the goal of quantifying the ionization history of the universe from the present epoch to a redshift of z ~ 3. Observations from WMAP and SDSS show that before a redshift of z (Symbol not available. See manuscript.) 6 the first collapsed objects, possibly dwarf galaxies, emitted Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation shortward of 912 Å that reionized most of the universe. Theoretical estimates of the LyC escape fraction ( fesc ) required from these objects to complete reionization is fesc ~10%. How LyC escapes from galactic environments, whether it induces positive or negative feedback on the local and global collapse of structures, and the role played by clumping, molecules, metallicity and dust are major unanswered theoretical questions, requiring observational constraint. Numerous intervening Lyman limit systems frustrate the detection of LyC from high z objects. They thin below z ~ 3 where there are reportedly a few cases of apparently very high fesc. At low z there are only controversial detections and a handful of upper limits. A wide-field multi-object spectroscopic survey with moderate spectral and spatial resolution can quantify fesc within diverse spatially resolved galactic environments over redshifts with significant evolution in galaxy assemblage and quasar activity. It can also calibrate LyC escape against Lyα escape, providing an essential tool to JWST for probing the beginnings of reionization. We present calculations showing the evolution of the characteristic apparent magnitude of star-forming galaxy luminosity functions at 900 Å, as a function of redshift and assumed escape fraction. These calculations allow us to determine the required aperture for detecting LyC and conduct trade studies to guide technology choices and balance science return against mission cost. Finally we review our efforts to build a pathfinding dual order multi-object spectro/telescope with a (0.5°)2 field-of-view, using a GSFC microshutter array, and crossed delay-line micro-channel plate detector.
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