BAE Systems Advances Stable Optical Technology for NASA’s HWO Mission
Sophie Jenkins
London, UK (SPX) July 15, 2024
BAE Systems, in collaboration with L3Harris Technologies and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), has been selected as one of three teams to develop technology for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), an innovative telescope designed to conduct detailed astronomical observations in search of signs of life outside our solar system. Its primary goal is to identify and study Earth-like planets orbiting other stars and assess their potential to support life. The observatory will also explore the evolution of stars, planets, galaxies and the universe with unparalleled sensitivity and resolution.
The team will embark on a two-year research initiative called the Ultrastable Large Telescope Research and Analysis Program – Critical Technologies (ULTRA-CT). The program aims to improve the performance of large space telescopes by advancing ultrastable optical systems. Laura Coyle, principal optical engineer and astrophysics technology lead for BAE Systems’ Space and Mission Systems division, will serve as principal investigator. ULTRA-CT builds on the team’s two previous NASA projects: ULTRA, a one-year study to identify technology gaps for large segment systems, and ULTRA, a four-year effort to mature key component-level technologies.
Observing exoplanets is particularly challenging because the light they reflect is weaker than the star they orbit. For an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, this brightness ratio, or “contrast,” is about 10 billion to 1. To achieve this level of starlight suppression requires a coronagraph and a large, very stable telescope to collect enough controlled light. The stability needed for 10 billion to 1 contrast is on the order of picometers (trillionths of a meter), far beyond current technology. The HWO telescope would need to be 1000 times more stable than the James Webb Space Telescope.
“Even slight temperature changes and vibrations can affect the telescope’s ability to maintain the contrast needed for these observations, so we need a system with both passive and active elements to minimize and compensate for disturbances,” Coyle said. “Backed by a track record of supporting NASA’s most ambitious missions, our ULTRA engineering team has developed technology to address picometer-level stability and is excited to move this groundbreaking project forward.”
HWO is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission, following the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch by 2027.
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