TPF-C Technology Plan - Exoplanet Exploration Program - NASA

Chapter 6
6 Instrument Technology and Advanced
Concepts
6.1 Instrument Technology
An announcement of opportunity for Instrument Concept Studies was released early in 2005 for
the purpose of soliciting the best ideas from academia and industry. The instruments defined in
these studies along with the technical requirements that their accommodation would place on the
observatory system will be considered by the Science and Technology Definition Team for
inclusion in their final report. These studies are expected to expose technology needs for classes
of instruments, and those identified for the most promising candidates will be addressed when
the TPF-C Technology Development Plan is updated next. This section serves as a placeholder
for those activities.
6.1.1 Detectors
The PIs of the selected Instrument Concept Studies will be asked to determine detector
requirements and assess the needs against the state-of-the-art for fabrication and characterization.
If a technology need is identified, a development plan will be added in the next version of this
document.
6.2 Advanced Concepts
Currently there are two advanced concepts under development. The visible nulling architecture
and the phase-induced amplitude apodization represent alternatives to the baseline coronagraphic
approach to achieving the necessary starlight suppression. These efforts are carried as options to
reduce risk to the Project through a development ending with proof-of-concept demonstrations.
6.2.1 Visible Nulling “Coronagraph” Testbed
Objective
The object of this technology development is to demonstrate the principle of nulling
interferometry as applied to exo-planet imaging at visible wavelengths. The visible nulling
testbed integrates all component and subsystem technologies developed for starlight suppression
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