Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer

Details Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer

Sep 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004spie.5497...28b&link_type=abstract

Modeling and Systems Engineering for Astronomy. Edited by Craig, Simon C.; Cullum, Martin J. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 549

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

ESA's DARWIN mission is to accomplish the unprecedented challenge of finding Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars. To tell apart the planet from its blinding 'sun', the system relies upon nulling interferometry: the light collected by six free-flying telescopes is recombined inside a central 'hub', in a way that the beams from the star are 'nulled', while those from the planet interfere constructively. The diameter (50 to 500m) of the free-flying interferometer is determined by the need for angular resolution. In contrast, the differences in optical pathlength between the incoming beams must be kept below 5 nm. It is the purpose of the ongoing "Interferometer Constellation Control" Research & Development study for the European Space Agency (ESA) to propose a design and validate the performances for the GNC system adapted to such a high-precision formation-flying application. The requirements & detailed design of this GNC system are addressed first, including the close connection with the parallel ESA study called "High Precision Optical Metrology" used to verify the feasibility of the critical DARWIN optical metrology system. Then, the modelling & performance assessment of the GNC system is presented, together with the way forward to build a high precision coupled optical/GNC simulator.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Design and modeling of the formation-flying GNC system for the DARWIN interferometer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1822801