Enabling High-Resolution Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet by Use of the Solar Gravity Lens

Turyshev, Slava G., Jet Propulsion Lab.; Shao, Michael, Jet Propulsion Lab.; Alkalai, Leon, Jet Propulsion Lab.; Shen, Janice, Jet Propulsion Lab.; Swain, Mark R., Jet Propulsion Lab.; Zhou, Hanying, Jet Propulsion Lab.; Toth, Viktor T.; Friedman, Louis D.; Mawet, Dmitri, Caltech; Helvajian, Henry, The Aerospace Corp.; Heinsheimer, Tom, The Aerospace Corp.; Janson, Siegfried W., The Aerospace Corp.; Leszczynski, Zigmond, The Aerospace Corp.; McVey, John, The Aerospace Corp.; Garber, Darren; Davoyan, Artur, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering; Redfield, Seth, Wesleyan Univ.; Males, Jared R., Steward Observatory

doi:10.1117/3.2618157.ch26

Book: The Nanosatellite Revolution: 30 Years and Continuing

Editor(s): Henry Helvajian; Siegfried W. Janson

Author(s): Slava Turyshev, Michael Shao, Leon Alkalai, Janice Shen, Mark Swain, Hanying Zhou, Viktor Toth, Louis Friedman, Dmitri Mawet, Henry Helvajian, Tom Heinsheimer, Siegfried Janson, Zigmond Leszczynski, John McVey, Darren Garber, Artur Davoyan, Seth Redfield, Jared Males

Published: 2023

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2618157.ch26

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

This chapter documents key scientific and engineering findings from a two-year Phase 2 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project to evaluate the use of our sun’s gravitational field as a multimillion-kilometer-diameter lens to image exoplanets in other star systems with up to megapixel resolution. Incident light onto the Solar Gravity Lens (SGL) comes to a focus at a distance of 548 AU (astronomical units) from the sun and has maximum light amplification of ≈10¹¹ coupled with angular resolution of ≈10^–10 arcsec for 1-μm wavelength light. A micro/nanospacecraft with a 1-m-aperture optical telescope in the SGL’s focal region can build an image of an exoplanet at a range of 30 pc (parsec) (98 light-years) with ≈20-km-scale resolution of its surface in a year of integration time. This revolutionary ability would be sufficient to observe seasonal changes, oceans, continents, and surface topography on alien exoplanets and large moons. Mission and spacecraft requirements, plus a concept of operations for getting to the SGL within a human lifetime and sending image data back to Earth, are the main focus of this chapter.