2008 Presentation to the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts
Webster Cash, University of Colorado at Boulder
January 2008, CU-Boulder
2007 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Mission Design Paper
Tiffany Glassman, Amy Lo, Chuck Lillie, and Keith Kroening
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Redondo Beach, CA, 90278
Optical performance of the New Worlds Occulter
C. R. Physique (2007), doi:10.1016/j.crhy.2007.03.005
Large Precision Deployables for Exo-Planet Missions
Charles Lillie, Amy S. Lo, Ron Polidan, Jon Arenberg, Tiffany Glassman
Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, CA 90278
New Worlds Observer Optical Performance
Amy S. Lo, Tiffany Glassman, Chuck Lillie
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Formation Flying System Design for a Planet-Finding Telescope-Occulter System
Jesse Leitner
Code 591, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA
9 July 2007, Poster
New Worlds Observer Poster for Astrobiology Conference in Puerto Rico
This poster introduces New Worlds Observer (NWO) in the context of astrobiology. The poster illustrates what NWO will be able to discover in terms of spectral analysis and photometry, and explains the relevance of these findings to the field of astrobiology.
2 April 2007, 8 pages
External Occulters for the Direct Study of Exoplanets
This paper was submitted to the ExoPlanet Task Force in April in response to the task force’s call for white papers. This paper summarizes an affordable, technically-ready, observational approach to finding and characterizing habitable, terrestrial extrasolar planets based on a recent breakthrough in the diffraction control of starshades. The paper illustrates the efficiency with which spectroscopy, photometry, and polarimetry can be performed due to the unique design of the New Worlds starshade. The paper explains configuration, science goals, operations concept, requirements and capabilities, technical readiness, and programmatics and cost for the New Worlds Observer mission.
February 2007, 70 slides
Powerpoint presented to Goddard Space Flight Center
This presentation emphasizes the importance direct detection and imaging of extrasolar planets can have on astrophysics. The presentation contrasts the abilities of New Worlds Observer with those of Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin. External occulters are described and diagrammed to illustrate New Worlds’ operations concept. The fifteen middle slides illustrate the solution to the diffraction problem solved by Dr. Webster Cash. The starshade is shaped through binary apodization which limits the diffraction of starlight around the edges of the occulter. The presentation depicts simulated images of solar systems, possible with New Worlds technology. Included in the presentation are tolerance analysis, deployment sequences and orbit positions. The last six slides conclude with the concept for New Worlds Imager, the concept for a mission to directly image terrestrial extrasolar planets.
