The Earth 2.0 (ET) space mission has entered its phase B study in China. It seeks to understand how frequently habitable Earth-like planets orbit solar-type stars (Earth 2.0s), the formation and evolution of terrestrial-like planets, and the origin of free-floating planets. The final design of ET includes six 28 cm diameter transit telescope systems, each with a field of view of 550 square degrees, and one 35 cm diameter microlensing telescope with a field of view of 4 square degrees. In transit mode, ET will continuously monitor over 2 million FGKM dwarfs in the original Kepler field and its neighboring fields for four years. Simultaneously, in microlensing mode, it will observe over 30 million I < 20.5 stars in the Galactic bulge direction. Simulations indicate that ET mission could identify approximately 40,000 new planets, including about 4,000 terrestrial-like planets across a wide range of orbital periods and in the interstellar space, ~1000 microlensing planets, ~10 Earth 2.0s and around 25 free-floating Earth mass planets. Coordinated observations with ground-based KMTNet telescopes will enable the measurement of masses for ~300 microlensing planets, helping determine the mass distribution functions of free-floating planets and cold planets. ET will operate from the Earth-Sun L2 halo orbit with a designed lifetime exceeding 4 years. The phase B study involves detailed design and engineering development of the transit and microlensing telescopes. Updates on this mission study are reported.
The quantitative evaluation of the models for correcting astronomical atmospheric refraction is very important for actual astronomical observation applications. In this work, six astronomical atmospheric refraction correction models are reviewed, including the linear model, the exponential model, the double exponential model, the Hopfield model, the accurate segmented model and the astronomical atmospheric refraction series expansion model. The systematic errors and random errors of the models are calculated for comparison. The application scope of each model is given for future applications.1
It might preserve vital clues about the imprints of life and the past livability of the planet, which are important information for studying the origin and the history of the planet, of planetary rocks or soils, so the measurement of planetary rock or soil composition is a basis of planetary exploration. Most of current composition analysis of rocks or soils, based on alpha particle backscattering technique and spectrum measurement of laser excitation, has disadvantages of low measurement accuracy, large resource demand and long measurement time. So it is urgent to seek different methods to measure the rocks or soils of planetary. A few of merits are included in x-ray active excitation mode: firstly, it has good resolution ability for elements above medium quality; secondly, the detection sensitivity of elements can reduce to 10ppm. As long as anode targets are changed, the detection sensitivity of any element can be matched. JPL is developing a prototype of a new rock composition analysis instrument based on x-ray source in order to satisfy the needs of NASA Mars 2020 exploration. It is irreplaceable as the next generation of planetary rocks or soils composition analysis instrument of x-ray active excitation mode. Therefore, the core content of this paper is to develop a composition analysis instrument, which integrates miniature x-ray source with the silicon drift detector (SDD).As the key technology of x-ray active excitation mode, miniature x-ray source must meet the needs of low power consumption, self-sealing, high intensity and micro-focus spot. For this purpose, a design proposal of the miniature x-ray source is proposed and its theoretical model is established. The size of cathode structure greatly impacts on the size of the whole miniature x-ray tube on account of the simplicity structure of x-ray tubes. So compared with the traditional x-ray source, a new cathode structure is used for the sake of reducing the whole size of the miniature x-ray tube. Not only that, but the size of cathode structure has influence on the structure of filaments, the magnitude of current and the size of focal spot of x-rays. At the same time, mini focal spot is needed to enhance the resolution ratio and intensity of rocks or soils composition analysis instruments. Hence, it is indispensable to optimize the cathode structure in order to realize the miniature size and mini focal spot. A simulation model has been set up based on theoretical calculation and simulated using charged particle optics software COMSOL or SIMION. The shape and the size of x-ray tube’s cathode have been optimized so as to attain the mini focal spot. Additionally, the influence of high voltage loaded on the cathode or the filament to focal spot size has been taken fully into account. Moreover, the SDD detector is also integrated with the miniature x-ray source and the whole volume of the composition analysis instrument decreases which is beneficial to the deep space exploration.
In this paper, the feasibility of a sCMOS camera for astrometric exoplanet detection space mission was evaluated and the evaluation methods were also studied. A 2k x 2k single-chip sCMOS camera was installed on the metrology testbed for the space mission. The pixel size of the detector is 11μm, corresponding to 1.86 arcsec on the focal plane. The sCMOS camera runs with a electronic rolling shutter. We tested the performance of the camera in detail, including the gain, linearity, readout noise, dark current, pixel response non-uniformity, etc.. The data acquisition performance for the pseudo-star and the interference fringes are also studied.
In this paper, we present an overview of a detector array equipment metrology testbed and a micro-pixel centroiding experiment currently under development at the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We discuss on-going development efforts aimed at calibrating the intra-/inter-pixel quantum efficiency and pixel positions for scientific grade CMOS detector, and review significant progress in achieving higher precision differential centroiding for pseudo star images in large area back-illuminated CMOS detector. Without calibration of pixel positions and intrapixel response, we have demonstrated that the standard deviation of differential centroiding is below 2.0e-3 pixels.
Search for Terrestrial Exo-Planet (STEP)[1] was originally proposed in 2013 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is currently being under background engineering study phase in China. The STEP mission is a space astrometry telescope working at visible light wavelengths. The STEP aims at the nearby terrestrial planets detection through micro-arcsecond-level astrometry. Determination of the separation between star images on a detector with high precision is very important for astrometric exoplanets detection through the observation of star wobbles due to planets. The requirement of centroiding accuracy for STEP is 1e-5 pixel. A centroiding experiment have been carried out on a metrology testbed in open laboratory. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of determining the separations between star images. Without calibration of pixel positions and intra-pixel response, we have demonstrated that the standard deviation of differential centroiding is below 7.4e-3 pixel by the algorithm of linear corrected photon weighted means(LCPWM)[2,3]. For comparison, the photon weighted means(PWM) and Gauss fitting are also used in the data reduction. These results pave the way for the geometrical calibration and the intra-pixel quantum efficiency(QE) calibration of detector array equipment for micro-pixel accuracy centroiding.
Solar Polar ORbit Telescope (SPORT) was originally proposed in 2004 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, which is currently being under background engineering study phase in China. SPORT will carry a
suite of remote-sensing and in-situ instruments to observe coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar high-latitude magnetism,
and the fast solar wind from a polar orbit around the Sun. The Lyman-alpha Imager (LMI) is one of the key remotesensing
instruments onboard SPORT with 45arcmin FOV, 2000mm effective focal length and 1.4arcsec/pixel spatial
resolution . The size of LMI is φ150×1000mm, and the weight is less than10kg, including the 7kg telescope tube and 3kg
electronic box. There are three 121.6nm filters used in the LMI optical path, so the 98% spectral purity image of
121.6nm can be achieved. The 121.6nm solar Lyman-alpha line is produced in the chromosphere and very sensitive to
plasma temperature, plasma velocity and magnetism variation in the chromosphere. Solar Lyman-alpha disk image is an
ideal tracker for corona magnetism variation.
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