AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX mission concept

Kimberly A. Ennico; Scott Sandford; Sylvia Cox; Benton Ellis; Dennis J. Gallagher; Nick Gautier; Thomas P. Greene; Craig R. McCreight; Gary Mills; William R. Purcell

doi:10.1117/12.454755

5 February 2002 AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX mission concept

Kimberly A. Ennico, Scott Sandford, Sylvia Cox, Benton Ellis, Dennis J. Gallagher, Nick Gautier, Thomas P. Greene, Craig R. McCreight, Gary Mills, William R. Purcell

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4495, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology IV; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454755
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The Astrobiology Explorer (ABE) is a MIDEX mission concept under study at NASA's Ames Research Center in collaboration with Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Corp. ABE will conduct IR spectroscopic observations to address important problems in astrobiology, astrochemistry, and astrophysics. The core observational program would make fundamental scientific progress in understanding the distribution, identity, and evolution of ices and organic matter in dense molecular clouds, young forming stellar systems, stellar outflows, the general diffuse ISM, HII regions, Solar System bodies, and external galaxies. The ABE instrument concept includes a 0.6 m aperture Cassegrain telescope and two moderate resolution (R equals 2000-3000) spectrographs covering the 2.5-16 micron spectral region. Large format (1024x1024 pixel or larger) IR detector arrays and bandpass filters will allow each spectrograph to cover an entire octave of spectral range or more per exposure without any moving parts. The telescope will be cooled below 50 K by a cryogenic dewar shielded by a sunshade. The detectors will be cooled to ~8K. The optimum orbital configuration for achieving the scientific objectives of the ABE mission is a low background, 1 AU Earth driftaway orbit requiring a Delta II launch vehicle. This configuration provides a low thermal background and allows adequate communications bandwidth and good access to the entire sky over the ~1-2 year mission lifetime.

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Kimberly A. Ennico, Scott Sandford, Sylvia Cox, Benton Ellis, Dennis J. Gallagher, Nick Gautier, Thomas P. Greene, Craig R. McCreight, Gary Mills, and William R. Purcell "AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX mission concept", Proc. SPIE 4495, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology IV, (5 February 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454755

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