The TOLIMAN space telescope

Peter Tuthill; Eduardo Bendek; Olivier Guyon; Anthony Horton; Bryn Jeffries; Nemanja Jovanovic; Pete Klupar; Kieran Larkin; Barnaby Norris; Benjamin Pope; Mike Shao

doi:10.1117/12.2313269

9 July 2018 The TOLIMAN space telescope

Peter Tuthill, Eduardo Bendek, Olivier Guyon, Anthony Horton, Bryn Jeffries, Nemanja Jovanovic, Pete Klupar, Kieran Larkin, Barnaby Norris, Benjamin Pope, Mike Shao

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10701, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VI; 107011J (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313269
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

The TOLIMAN space telescope is a low-cost, agile mission concept dedicated to astrometric detection of exoplanets in the near-solar environment, and particularly targeting the Alpha Cen system. Although successful discovery technologies are now populating exoplanetary catalogs into the thousands, contemporary astronomy is still poorly equipped to answer the basic question of whether there are any rocky planets orbiting any particular star system. Toliman will make a first study of stars within 10 PC of the sun by deploying an innovative optical and signal encoding architecture that leverages the most promising technology to deliver data on this critical stellar sample: high precision astrometric monitoring. Here we present results from the Foundational Mission Study, jointly funded by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and the University of Sydney which has translated innovative underlying design principles into error budgets and potential spacecraft systems designs.

Citation Download Citation

Peter Tuthill, Eduardo Bendek, Olivier Guyon, Anthony Horton, Bryn Jeffries, Nemanja Jovanovic, Pete Klupar, Kieran Larkin, Barnaby Norris, Benjamin Pope, and Mike Shao "The TOLIMAN space telescope", Proc. SPIE 10701, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VI, 107011J (9 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313269

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE