Mr. Simon P. Worden Profile

Simon P. Worden

Director at NASA Ames Research Ctr

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 12 March 2024 Poster + Paper

Technology development for a low-mass solar system and interstellar communications system

Philip Mauskopf, Roger Angel, Harry Atwater, Elisa Bazzanid, Karl Berggren, Paul Blase, Roberto Corvaja, Artur Davoyan, T. Marshall Eubanks, Anna Valeria Guglielmi, Robert Hadfield, Michael Hart, Andreas Hein, Adam Hibbard, Michael Hippke, Tracee Jamison-Hooks, Boubacar Kante, Michael Kelzenberg, Robert Kennedy, Peter Klupar, Jeff Kuhn, Nicola Laurenti, Martin P. Lavery, Mansavi Lingam, Philip Lubin, Zac Manchester, Owen Medeiros, David Messerschmitt, Ian Morrison, Hossein Mosallaei, Thomas Mozdzen, Ricardo Rodriguez, Filippo Romanato, Gianluca Ruffato, James Schalkwyk, Richard Scott, Ruzan Sokhoyan, Slava Turyshev, Giuseppe Vallone, Lorenzo Vangelista, Jose Velazco, Paolo Villoresi, Andrea Vogliardi, S. Pete Worden, Saeed Zeinolabedinzadeh

Proceedings Volume 12877, 1287722 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3023043

KEYWORDS: Telecommunications, Receivers, Quantum receivers, Transmitters, Pulse signals, Data transmission, Sensors, Data communications, Space operations, Design

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Proceedings Article | 26 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Imaging nearby, habitable-zone planets with the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer

Steve Ertel, Kevin Wagner, Jarron Leisenring, Dániel Apai, Denis Defrère, Jeremy Dietrich, Joshua Eisner, Virginie Faramaz, William Hoffmann, Markus Kasper, Pete Klupar, Jared Males, Mark Marley, Hélène Rousseau, Stephanie Sallum, Eckhart Spalding, Jordan Stone, S. Pete Worden

Proceedings Volume 12183, 1218302 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2635333

KEYWORDS: Planets, Stars, Sensors, Interferometry, Telescopes, Point spread functions, Spatial resolution, Nulling interferometry, Cameras, Mirrors

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Proceedings Article | 7 July 2006 Paper

A Lunar Liquid Mirror Telescope (LLMT) for deep-field infrared observations near the lunar pole

Roger Angel, Dan Eisenstein, Suresh Sivanandam, Simon Worden, Jim Burge, Ermanno Borra, Clément Gosselin, Omar Seddiki, Paul Hickson, Ki Bui Ma, Bernard Foing, Jean-Luc Josset, Simon Thibault, Paul Van Susante

Proceedings Volume 6265, 62651U (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.669994

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, James Webb Space Telescope, Space telescopes, Liquids, Mirrors, Stars, Infrared telescopes, Infrared radiation, Galactic astronomy, Sun

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Proceedings Article | 31 August 2005 Paper

Testable lightweight telescopes for space

Roger Angel, Jim Burge, S. Worden

Proceedings Volume 5899, 58990X (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.619097

KEYWORDS: Space telescopes, Telescopes, James Webb Space Telescope, Mirrors, Actuators, Space operations, Control systems, Diffraction, Collimators, Space mirrors

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The next generation of larger space optics will need lightweight and deployed mirror systems in order to control costs and fit within current and planned launch vehicle fairings. These will require active control based on wavefront sensing to establish and maintain their optical quality. Such control has been the enabling factor for the current generation of 8 m class ground-based telescopes, whose mirrors are either single monoliths with detailed shape control or have multiple rigid segments with control of relative position. They use actuator densities of typically a few per square meter. For active space systems it will be highly desirable to test the full deployed spacecraft in a vacuum test with a scene simulator, to validate before launch the optical performance of the complete system with its closed loop control systems. To enable such testing, the space mirror system must be designed from the start to work in a 1g as well as zero g environment. The orientation we envisage has the spacecraft system pointed at the zenith, illuminated by a downward beam collimated with reference to a full aperture liquid flat. We consider here two space mirror systems. The first has rigid segments supported by position actuators to control only rigid body motions. Since the segments under test must hold their shape with an axial 1g load and no passive flotation supports, they must be smaller than for ground systems. If made of lightweighted silicon carbide or beryllium for diffraction limited imaging in the optical, they would have to be ~ 30 cm in diameter. A mirror systems made from such segments will require about 40 actuators and wavefront sensor sub-apertures per square meter. The second system is a lightweight 3.5x8 m monolith for very high contrast imaging, as is envisaged for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder. High accuracy control of Fourier components down to ~ 0.2 m period is required, requiring a deformable mirror with about 4000 actuators. If the primary itself is the deformable element, and has a 1 cm thick glass meniscus facesheet weighing 600 kg, the gravity-induced quilting during testing would be about 1 nm rms, low enough for ground testing of the complete system at the desired 10-10 contrast level.

Conference Committee Involvement (2)

UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes: Innovative Technologies and Concepts III

26 August 2007 | San Diego, California, United States

UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes: Innovative Technologies and Concepts II

31 July 2005 | San Diego, California, United States

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