WFIRST design reference mission: the coronagraph instrument (Conference Presentation)

Vanessa P. Bailey; Dmitry Savransky; John Debes; Bertrand Mennesson; Robert Zellem

doi:10.1117/12.2527942

9 September 2019 WFIRST design reference mission: the coronagraph instrument (Conference Presentation)

Vanessa P. Bailey, Dmitry Savransky, John Debes, Bertrand Mennesson, Robert Zellem

Proceedings Volume 11117, Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IX; 111170E (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2527942
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2019, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast imager and integral field spectrograph that will enable the study of exoplanets and circumstellar disks at visible wavelengths. Future flagship mission concepts aim to image Earth analogues with visible light flux ratios greater than 10^10, and CGI is a critical intermediate step toward that goal. CGI will have ~3 months of observing time during the first 18 months of the mission (its "tech demo phase") to demonstrate its technology objectives and to determine whether its as-built performance justifies additional science observing time during the remainder of the mission. We present the CGI portion of the preliminary WFIRST Design Reference Mission (DRM). We describe the suite of anticipated observing and calibration tasks, the preliminary target list, and a schedule with realistic observing constraints and exposure times. We expect that during the tech demo phase CGI will image multiple planets and circumstellar disks in reflected light and take a spectrum of a mature Jupiter analog in reflected light. Furthermore, CGI is expected to be more sensitive than any previous instrument to extrasolar zodiacal dust and has the potential to study very young (proto)planetary systems.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Vanessa P. Bailey, Dmitry Savransky, John Debes, Bertrand Mennesson, and Robert Zellem "WFIRST design reference mission: the coronagraph instrument (Conference Presentation)", Proc. SPIE 11117, Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IX, 111170E (9 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2527942

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