This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8860 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a cryogenic infrared space observatory with a 25 m² aperture (6 m class) telescope that will achieve diffraction limited angular resolution at a wavelength of 2 um. The science instrument payload includes three passively cooled near-infrared instruments providing broad- and narrow-band imagery, coronography, as well as multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy over the 0.6 < λ < 5.0 um spectrum. An actively cooled mid-infrared instrument provides broad-band imagery, coronography, and integral-field spectroscopy over the 5.0 < λ < 29 um spectrum. The JWST is being developed by NASA, in partnership with the European and Canadian Space Agencies, as a general user facility with science observations to be proposed by the international astronomical community in a manner similar to the Hubble Space Telescope. Technology development and mission design are complete. Construction, integration and verification testing is underway in all areas of the program. The JWST is on schedule for launch during 2018.

We present principal component analysis (PCA) of a flight-representative James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) Detector Subsystem. Although our results are specific to NIRSpec and its T ~ 40 K SIDECAR ASICs and 5 μm cutoff H2RG detector arrays, the underlying technical approach is more general. We describe how we measured the system’s response to small environmental perturbations by modulating a set of bias voltages and temperature. We used this information to compute the system’s principal noise components. Together with information from the astronomical scene, we show how the zeroth principal component can be used to calibrate out the effects of small thermal and electrical instabilities to produce cosmetically cleaner images with significantly less correlated noise. Alternatively, if one were designing a new instrument, one could use PCA to determine a set of environmental requirements (temperature stability, electrical stability, etc.) that enabled the planned instrument to meet performance requirements.

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is a three year effort initiated in FY12 to mature by at least a half TRL step six critical technologies required to enable 4 to 8 meter UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. AMTD uses a sciencedriven systems engineering approach. We mature technologies required to enable the highest priority science AND result in a high-performance low-cost low-risk system. To provide the science community with options, we are pursuing multiple technology paths. We have assembled an outstanding team from academia, industry, and government with extensive expertise in astrophysics and exoplanet characterization, and in the design/manufacture of monolithic and segmented space telescopes. A key accomplishment is deriving engineering specifications for advanced normalincidence monolithic and segmented mirror systems needed to enable both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets missions as a function of potential launch vehicles and their mass and volume constraints.

The High-ORbit Ultraviolet-visible Satellite (HORUS) is a 2.4-meter class space telescope that will conduct a comprehensive and systematic study of the astrophysical processes and environments relevant for the births and life cycles of stars and their planetary systems, to investigate and understand the range of environments, feedback mechanisms, and other factors that most affect the outcome of the star and planet formation process. HORUS will provide 100× greater imaging efficiency and combines the resolution of STIS with the throughput of COS. The HORUS mission will contribute vital information on how solar systems form and whether habitable planets should be common or rare. It also will investigate the structure, evolution, and destiny of galaxies and the universe. This program relies on focused capabilities unique to space that no other planned NASA mission will provide: near-ultraviolet (UV)/visible (200-1100nm) wide-field (14′ square), diffraction-limited imaging; and high-sensitivity, high-resolution FUV (100- 320nm) spectroscopy. From its baseline orbit at L2 HORUS will enjoy a stable environment for thermal and pointing control, and long-duration target visibility. The core HORUS design will provide wide field of view imagery and high efficiency point source far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectroscopy using a combination of spectral selection and field sharing.

Several variations of large space-based observatories have been hypothesized using different approaches to deploying the primary and secondary mirrors on orbit. Careful consideration must also be given to the design and implementation of the shield that protects these observatories from thermal extremes, micro-debris, and controls stray light entry into the optical train. One approach to the shield architecture is use of an Optical Barrel Assembly (OBA), such as that used on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). For space telescopes much larger than the HST, an OBA will need to be deployed or assembled to form an adequately large structure to fully shield both the primary mirror and secondary mirror. This paper describes the design, prototyping, characterization tests, and test results from two different OBA development efforts. The first design is a combined barrel and secondary mirror support structure. This system was designed for a fixed primary mirror and deploys straight upward along the optical axis, carrying the Secondary Mirror Assembly (SMA) with it. The second OBA design is of a structurally independent OBA that deploys out from behind the Primary Mirror Assembly (PMA) (itself deployed or assembled) and extends forward along the optical axis to completely enclose the optical train, pulling along the shroud material. Examples of both systems were built out of prototype materials, tested, and the test results were compared against modeled predictions of system performance. The designs, test procedures, and test results are presented along with recommendations for future work.

Although current budget realities discourage optimism regarding future development of large spaceborne astronomical telescopes, it is prudent to identify options that may enhance future cost-benefit ratios and enhance system opportunities sooner rather than later. Using a concept for a 20 meter UV-Optical-IR (UVOIR) telescope known as the Modular Assembled Space Telescope (MAST) assembled in space and operating in Sun-Earth L2 (SEL2) halo orbit as a baseline, this paper discusses proposed concepts and technologies for infrastructures related to deep space human and robotic exploration missions that could create opportunities for such a space telescope. The paper also explores the possibility that a telescope such as MAST or the related infrastructure could itself be leveraged to benefit other missions, for example through shared use of space and ground infrastructure, in-space operational experience, or other forms of collaboration.

The international far-infrared astrophysics community is eager to follow up Spitzer and Herschel observations with sensitive, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, for such measurements are needed to understand merger-driven star formation, Active Galactic Nuclei, chemical enrichment in galaxies, star and planetary system formation, and the development and prevalence of water-bearing planets. Through concerted efforts worldwide, the key enabling technologies are maturing. NASA sponsored the SPIRIT Probe and SPECS flagship-class mission concept studies during the past decade. Experiments involving interferometry testbeds are underway in the UK and the US. With new EU Seventh Framework Programme support, the European community is undertaking science definition studies and investing in enabling technology for a future space far-IR interferometry mission. The Japanese balloon-borne far-IR interferometer FITE is being prepared for its maiden flight, and NASA’s BETTII balloon interferometer is under development, with contributions from the UK. This paper reviews recent technical progress, summarizes mission design tradeoffs, and offers a vision for space-based far-IR interferometry involving international collaboration.

High resolution observing systems need bigger and bigger telescopes. The design of such telescopes is a key element for the satellite design. In order to improve the imaging resolution with minimum impact on the satellite, a big step must be made to improve the compactness of the telescope. This paper describes the comparative study of several compact optical designs. Different apertures, from F/5 to F/20, and different concepts, TMA (Three Mirror Anastigmat), Ritchey-Chrétien concept and Korsch concept have been studied. We will point out advantages and disadvantages of each design. We will show how compact a high resolution telescope can be. A diffraction limited telescope can be less than ten times shorter than its focal length. A constraining consequence of this compactness is the huge increase of the sensitivity factors. The impacts on the optics and on the opto-mechanical tolerances have been analysed. The need to implement active optics raises. A first active optics experiment is presented

We have developed the compact infrared camera (CIRC) with an uncooled infrared array detector (microbolometer) for space application. The main mission of the CIRC is the technology demonstration of the wildfire detection using a large format (640×480) microbolometer. Wildfires are major and chronic disasters affecting numerous countries, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and may get worse with global warming and climate change. Microbolometers have an advantage of not requiring cooling systems such an a mechanical cooler, and is suitable for resource-limited sensor systems or small satellites. Main characteristic of the CIRC is also an athermal optics. The thermal optics compensates the defocus due to the temperature change by using Germanium and Chalcogenide glass which have different coefficient of thermal expansion and temperature dependence of refractive index. The CIRC achieves a small size, light weight, and low electrical power by employing the athermal optics and a shutter-less system. Two CIRCs will be carried as a technology demonstration payload of ALOS-2 and JEM-CALET, which will be launched in JFY 2013 and 2014, respectively. We have finished the ground calibration test of the CIRC Proto Flight Model (PFM). Athermal optical performance of the CIRC have been confirmed by measuring modulation transfer function (MTF) in a vacuum environment and at environmental temperature from -15 to 50 °C. As a result, MTF was found to be effective at capturing clear images across the entire range of operating temperatures. We also provide an overview of the CIRC and radiometric test results in this presentation.

One of the key goals of NASA’s astrophysics program is to answer the question: How did galaxies evolve into the spirals and elliptical galaxies that we see today? We describe a mission concept called Galaxy Evolution Spectroscopic Explorer (GESE) to address this question by making a large spectroscopic survey of galaxies at redshift, z~1-2 (lookback times of 8-10 billion years). GESE is a 1.5-m space telescope with a 3-channel multi-object slit spectrograph that can obtain spectra of ~400 galaxies per exposure. Together, the 3 channels cover the spectral range, 0.2-1.6 μm at a resolving power, R~400. (This observed spectral range corresponds to 0.1-0.8 μm in the restframe of a galaxy at a redshift, z=1 galaxy.) The mission concept takes advantage of two new technological advances: (1) light-weighted, wide field of view telescope mirrors, and (2) the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) to be used as a slit generator in a multichannel (UV, optical, NIR), multi-object slit spectrograph.

The most recent study of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission is based on reuse of an existing 2.4m telescope. This study was commissioned by NASA to examine the potential science return and cost effectiveness of WFIRST by using this significantly larger aperture telescope. We review the science program envisioned by the WFIRST 2012-2013 Science Definition Team (SDT), an overview of the mission concept, and the telescope design and status. Comparisons against the previous 1.3m and reduced cost 1.1m WFIRST design concepts are discussed. A significant departure from past point designs is the option for serviceability and the geostationary orbit location which enables servicing and replacement instrument insertion later during mission life. Other papers at this conference provide more in depth discussion of the wide field instrument and the optional exoplanet imaging coronagraph instrument.

We present the Wide Field Infra-Red Survey Telescope (WFIRST) wide field instrument concept based on the reuse of a 2.4m telescope recently made available to NASA. Two instrument channels are described, a wide field channel (~0.8x0.4degrees, 300Mpix, imaging and spectroscopy over 0.76-2.0um), and an integral field unit (3x3 arcsec, 1Mpix, R{2pixel} ~100 over 0.6-2.0um). For this mission concept, the telescope, instruments, and spacecraft are in a geosynchronous orbit and are designed for serviceability. This instrument can accomplish not only the baseline exoplanet microlensing, dark energy, and infrared surveys for WFIRST, but can perform at higher angular resolution and with deeper observations. This enables significant opportunities for more capable general observer programs. The emphasis on achieving very good imaging stability is maintained from the previous work.

The ESA/EUCLID satellite is equipped with two instruments that are simultaneously observing patches of < 0:5 square degree on the sky. The VIS visual light high spacial resolution imager and the NISP near infrared spectrometer and photometer are separated by a di-chroic beam splitter. The huge field of view, together with the enormous demands on the optical performance and in flight stability of the instruments and telescope lead to unique demands in post launch alignment. A very detailed, very well set up optical tolerance analysis is therefore one key point in the success of the mission. Design and alignment have to be optimized for best toleranced performance. This paper presents the baseline concept of the NISP instrument with its two observational modes being low resolution slit-less spectroscopy and three band J, H&K+ photometry. Special chapters deal with the alignment scheme and the derived tolerance approach which will be used towards the instrument PDR.

Pocket-pumping is an established technique for identifying the locations of charge trapping sites within the transport channels of CCDs. Various parameters of the pumping process can be manipulated to increase the efficiency, or allow characterisation of the trap sites effective during nominal operating modes. A CCD273 was irradiated in a triangular region by protons to a 10 MeV equivalent fluence of 1.2E9 p.cm², ensuring a suitably low trap density for ease of automated trap recognition. X-rays of 5,898 eV were incident on the CCD above the region irradiated with the triangle, such that events could be analysed having passed through an increasing length of irradiated silicon and hence number of trapping sites. Here we present the relationship between the number of traps identified by pocket pumping within the parallel transport channels of a CCD273 and the amount of signal that is deferred by the trapping process during readout.

A front-illuminated development Euclid charge-coupled device (CCD) is tested to observe the CCD point-spread function (PSF) relative to signal size using a single-pixel photon transfer curve (SP-PTC) technique. In the process of generating a SP-PTC charge redistribution effects were observed. In attempting to show that charge redistribution can be caused by exposing a charge-populated well in the CCD array to further illumination, excess charge became apparent in recorded data. Excess charge is suggested to be proportionally generated in the CCD array if existing charge is subjected to further illumination before transfer and readout. The construction of an optical test bench and CCD operating variables are discussed alongside systematic error concerns and mitigation techniques.

The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission carries a suite of three cameras referred to as OCAMS. The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) at Utah State University is providing the CCD-based detector assemblies for OCAMS to the Lunar Planetary Lab (LPL) at the University of Arizona. Working with the LPL, SDL has designed the electronics to operate a 1K by 1K frame transfer Teledyne DALSA Multi-Pinned Phase (MPP) CCD. The detector assembly electronics provides the CCD clocking, biasing, and digital interface with the OCAMS payload Command Control Module (CCM). A prototype system was built to verify the functionality of the detector assembly design and to characterize the detector system performance at the intended operating temperatures. The characterization results are described in this paper.

A multi-level clocking scheme has been developed to improve the parallel CTE of four-phase CCDs by suppressing the effects of traps located in the transport channel under barrier phases by inverting one of these phases throughout the transfer sequence. In parallel it was apparent that persistence following optical overload in Euclid VIS detectors would lead to undesirable signal released in subsequent rows and frames and that a suitable scheme for flushing this signal would be required. With care, the negatively biased electrodes during the multi-level transfer sequence can be made to pin the entire surface, row-by-row, and annihilate the problematic charges. This process can also be extended for use during integration to significantly reduce the unusable area of the detector, as per the clocked anti-blooming techniques developed many years ago; however, with the four-phase electrodes architecture of modern CCDs, we can take precautionary measures to avoid the problem of charge pumping and clock induced charge within the science frames. Clock induced charge is not all bad! We also propose the use of on-orbit trap-pumping for Euclid VIS to provide calibration input to ground based correction algorithms and as such a uniform, low noise background is require. Clock induced charge can be manipulated to provide a very suitable, low signal and noise background to the imaging array. Here we describe and present results of multi-level parallel clocking schemes for use in four-phase CCDs that could improve performance of high precision astronomy applications such as Euclid VIS.

The Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre in Spain observes with its JAST/T80 telescope galaxies in the Local Universe in a systematic study. This is accomplished with a multi-band photometric all sky survey called Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS). A wide field camera receives the signals from universe via optical filters. In this presentation the development and design of a narrow bandpass steep edge filter with wide suppression will be shown. The filter has a full width half maximum in the range of 13-15 nm (with <1 nm tolerance) with central wavelengths in the range 350-860nm and an average transmission larger than 90% in the passband. Signals beyond the passband (blocking range) have to be suppressed down to 250nm and up to 1050nm (spectral regime), where a blocking of OD 5 (transmission < 10^-5) is required. The edges have to be steep for a small transition width from 5% to 80%. The spectral requirements result in a large number of layers which are deposited with magnetron sputtering. The transmitted wavefront error of the optical filter must be less than lambda/2 over the 100mm aperture and the central wavelength uniformity must be better than +/- 0.4% over the clear aperture. The filter consists of optical filter glass and a coated substrate in order to reach the spectral requirements. The substrate is coated with more than 120 layers. The total filter thickness was specified to be 8.0mm. Results of steep edge narrow bandpass filters will be demonstrated fulfilling all these demanding requirements.

The ESA/EUCLID satellite is equipped with two instruments that are simultaneously observing patches of < 0:5 square degree on the sky. The VIS visual light high spacial resolution imager and the NISP near infrared spectrometer and photometer are separated by a di-chroic beam splitter. The NISP Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer reduces the initial f/# 20 beam of the Korsch type telescope to an f/# 10 beam filling 16 Hawaii 2RG detectors on the NISP instrument focal plane by means of a four lens optical system. With this paper we present tests on the radiation damage measured between 500 and 2000nm to six 25mm thick probes of optical materials potentially used in the NISP optics for the environmental conditions expected for a six years mission in the outer Lagrange point L2.

Corning’s ULE^® is an ultra-low expansion glass used for machine tool blocks to astronomical mirrors. Its primary alternative is a glass ceramic. In many applications, ion beam milling is used for final surface figuring. Ion milling removes material at an atomic level and is typically a slow, expensive process. Experiments have determined the upper limits of removal rate for ion beam milling during optical figuring. The goal was to increase the power density of the ion beam during figuring to achieve higher removal rates with no negative effects on surface properties. Testing shows that the removal rate on ULE^® is about 50% higher than on glass ceramics under the same conditions. With an increase in material removal rate, both ULE^® and the glass ceramic show an increase in surface roughness. Average birefringence of both materials increases slightly after milling; however the level of birefringence in the glass ceramic is seven times larger than for ULE^®. Therefore using higher ion milling power densities, the surface figuring of ULE^® can be accelerated to produce shorter processing times without adverse effects on surface properties. This can help lower the cost for manufacture of ULE^® optics.

In 2010, SCHOTT introduced a method for the modeling of the thermal expansion behavior of ZERODUR^® under arbitrary temperature profiles for an optimized production of material for the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) projects. In 2012 a new product was introduced based on this method called ZERODUR^® TAILORED. ZERODUR^® TAILORED provides an evolution in the specification of the absolute Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) value by including the individual customer requirements in this process. This paper presents examples showing the benefit of an application oriented approach in the design of specifications using ZERODUR^®. Additionally it will be shown how the modeling approach has advanced during the last years to improve the prediction accuracy on long time scales. ZERODUR^® is known not only for its lowest CTE but also for its excellent CTE homogeneity as shown in the past for disc shaped blanks typical for telescope mirror substrates. Additionally this paper presents recent results of CTE homogeneity measurements in the single digit ppb/K range for a rectangular cast plate proving that the excellent CTE homogeneity is independent of the production format.

The Advance Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is a three year effort initiated in FY12 to mature by at least a half TRL step six critical technologies required to enable 4 to 8 meter UVOIR space telescope primary mirror assemblies for both general astrophysics and ultra-high contrast observations of exoplanets. Thus far, AMTD has achieved all of its goals and accomplished all of its milestones. We did this by assembling an outstanding team from academia, industry, and government with extensive expertise in astrophysics and exoplanet characterization, and in the design/manufacture of monolithic and segmented space telescopes; by deriving engineering specifications for advanced normal-incidence mirror systems needed to make the required science measurements; and by defining and prioritizing the most important technical problems to be solved.

A simple closed-form equation for the elimination of linear astigmatism in off-axis three-mirror telescope and imaging system is presented. Several practical design examples of telescope and auxiliary optics based on the equation are also presented and compared to the similar designs reported previously.

Euclid is an M-class mission selected for the next phase of ESA’s long-term Cosmic Vision programme. The mission’s primary aim is to provide insight into the physical cause of the accelerating universe which will be achieved by investigating the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity. The investigation will involve the measurement of the effects of intervening gravitational potentials on visible light from distant galaxies, a process known as weak gravitational lensing. The CCD273 was designed by e2v for the Euclid mission, and is based on an older design for the CCD204, with changes designed and implemented to improve operation under irradiation. These changes include a narrower buried channel in the serial register to reduce trap interactions during readout. Pixel level models have been developed to improve knowledge of charge packet distribution within the CCD273 and CCD204 using Silvaco TCAD, enabling more effective predictions to be made about device functionality before and after irradiation which can be immediately tested on both devices. This paper is focussed on latest results, with particular reference to the on-going model verification, designed to build confidence in the device models and provide feedback to further improve the modelling effort.

High contrast imaging can use pupil apodizers to suppress diffracted starlight from a bright source in order to observe its environs. Metallic half-tone dot transmissive apodizers were developed for the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and ESO SPHERE coronagraphs for use in the near-IR. Dot sizes on the scale of the wavelength of the light often result in unexpected variations in the optical transmission vs. superficial dot density relation. We measured 5 and 10 micron half-tone microdot screens' transmissions between 550 -1050 nm to prepare to fabricate apodizations that mitigate diffraction by segments gaps and spiders on future large space telescopes. We utilized slow test beams (f/40, f/80) to estimate the on-axis (far-field, or zero-order) transmission of test patches using a Fourier Transform Spectrograph on Beamline U10B at Brookhaven National Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source (BNL NSLS). We also modified our previous GPI IR characterization hardware and methods for this experiment. Our measurements show an internal consistency of 0.1% in transmission, a factor of 5 better than our near-IR GPI work on the NSLS U4IR beamline. The systematics of the set-up appeared to limit the absolute calibration for our f/40 data on the 50-patch, maximum Optical Density 3 (OD3), sample. Credible measurements of transmissions down to about 3% transmission were achieved for this sample. Future work on apodizers for obstructed and segmented primary mirror coronagraphs will require configurations that mimic the intended diffractive configurations closely in order to tune apodizer fabrication to any particular application, and measure chromatic effects in representative diffractive regimes. Further experimental refinements are needed to measure the densest test patches which possess transmissions less than a few percent. The new NSLS-II should provide much greater spectral stability of its synchrotron beam, which will improve measurement accuracy and reduce systematics.

Future mission studies will be expecting Hubble-class resolution and extremely wide areal coverage in order to provide the best science return per investment dollar. The only way to combine high resolution imaging with wide areal coverage is to design large FPAs with very small pixel plate scales. The design and construction of a modular imager cell (MIC) using embedded controllers to ameliorate the power, mass, and cost for the large format CCD focal plane arrays, can provide a robust, low-risk, high-reward solution to mitigate possible mission failures by providing a way to assemble large FPAs using a modular “plug and play” solution. By placing the detector and the associated readout electronics on a single module, one can easily remove and replace any single module without adversely affecting other detectors in the FPA. We present a prototype design and results for an MIC for use with a delta-doped LBNL 3.5k × 3.5k CCD. This prototype design is comprised of the CCD preamplification circuitry and CCD control signal filtering circuitry and is scheduled for flight in an upcoming sub-orbital rocket payload.

Establishing improved spectrophotometric standards is important for a broad range of missions and is relevant to many astrophysical problems. ACCESS, “Absolute Color Calibration Experiment for Standard Stars”, is a series of rocket-borne sub-orbital missions and ground-based experiments designed to enable improvements in the precision of the astrophysical flux scale through the transfer of absolute laboratory detector standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to a network of stellar standards with a calibration accuracy of 1% and a spectral resolving power of 500 across the 0.35−1.7μm bandpass. Achieving a calibration accuracy of 1% not only requires an accurate calibration transfer from the detector standards to the instrument, but it also requires characterization and stability of the detector as well as a thermal background that contributes less than 1% to the flux per resolution element in the near-infrared (1.7μm) spectral region of the ACCESS bandpass. This paper describes the thermal mechanical design for achieving a low thermal background across the ACCESS spectral bandpass.

An image slicer is highly in demand for an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph of the next generation infrared telescopes. This paper reports the results of the trial production of three key optical elements for a small format (number of slice; n=5) image slicer, i.e. monolithic slice mirrors, monolithic pupil mirrors and monolithic pseudo slit mirrors. We have demonstrated that sufficiently high processing accuracy and mirror surface accuracy for infrared observations are achieved for each optical element based on our super precision cutting techniques.

Since the end of 2012, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developed the Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer for Star formation history (NISS), which is a payload of the Korean next small satellite 1 (NEXTSat-1) and will be launched in 2017. NISS has a cryogenic system, which will be cooled down to around 200K by a radiation cooling in space. NISS is an off-axis catadioptric telescope with 150mm aperture diameter and F-number 3.5, which covers the observation wavelengths from 0.95-3.8μm by using the linear variable filter (LVF) for the near infrared spectroscopy. The entire field of view is 2deg x 2deg with 7arcsec pixel scale. Optics consists of two parabolic primary and secondary mirrors and re-imaging lenses having 8 elements. The main requirement for the optical performance is that the RMS spot diameters for whole fields are smaller than the detector pixel, 18μm. Two LVFs will be used for 0.9- 1.9μm and 1.9-3.8μm, whose FWHM is more than 2%. We will use the gold-coated aluminum mirrors and employ the HgCdTe 1024x1024 detector made by Teledyne. This paper presents the conceptual opto-mechanical design of NISS.

This paper suggests that the astronomical science data recorded with low F# telescopes for applications requiring a known point spread function shape and those applications requiring instrument polarization calibration may be compromised unless the effects of vector wave propagation are properly modeled and compensated. Exoplanet coronagraphy requires “matched filter” masks and explicit designs for the real and imaginary parts for the mask transmittance. Three aberration sources dominate image quality in astronomical optical systems: amplitude, phase and polarization. Classical ray-trace aberration analysis used today by optical engineers is inadequate to model image formation in modern low F# highperformance astronomical telescopes. We show here that a complex (real and imaginary) vector wave model is required for high performance, large aperture, very wide-field, low F# systems. Self-induced polarization anisoplanatism (SIPA) reduces system image quality, decreases contrast and limits the ability of image processing techniques to restore images. This paper provides a unique analysis of the image formation process to identify measurements sensitive to SIPA. Both the real part and the imaginary part of the vector complex wave needs to be traced through the entire optical system, including each mirror surface, optical filter, and all masks. Only at the focal plane is the modulus squared taken to obtain an estimate of the measured intensity. This paper also discusses the concept of the polarization conjugate filter, suggested by the author to correct telescope/instrument corrupted phase and amplitude and thus mitigate⁶, in part the effects of phase and amplitude errors introduced by reflections of incoherent white-light from metal coatings.

The Geospace Dynamics Observatory (GDO) mission observes the near-Earth region in space called Geospace with unprecedented resolution, scale and sensitivity. At a distance of 60 Earth Radii (Re) in a near-polar circular orbit and a ~27-day period, GDO images the earth’s full disk with (1) a three-channel far ultraviolet imager, (2) an extreme ultraviolet imager of the plasmasphere, and (3) a spectrometer in the near to far ultraviolet range that probes any portion of the disk and simultaneously observes the limb. The exceptional capabilities of the GDO mission include (1) unprecedented improvement in signal to noise for globalscale imaging of Earth’s space environment that enable changes in the Earth’s space environment to be resolved with orders of magnitude higher in temporal and spatial resolution compared to existing data and other approaches, and (2) unrivaled capability for resolving the temporal evolution, over many days, in local time or latitude with a continuous view of Earth’s global-scale evolution while simultaneously capturing the changes at scales smaller than are possible with other methods. This combination of new capabilities is a proven path to major scientific advances and discoveries. The GDO mission (1) has the first full disk imagery of the density and composition variability that exist during disturbed “storm” periods and the circulation systems of the upper atmosphere, (2) is able to image the ionosphere on a global and long time scale basis, (3) is able to probe the mechanisms that control the evolution of planetary atmospheres, and (4) is able to test our understanding of how the Earth is connected to the Sun. This paper explores the optical and technical aspects of the GDO mission and the implementation strategy. Additionally, the case will be made that GDO addresses a significant portion of the priority mission science articulated in the recent Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey.¹

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is unique in that it is currently the only large telescope (2 x 8.4m primary mirrors) with permanently mounted adaptive secondary mirrors (ASMs). These ASMs have been used for regular observing since early 2010 on the right side and since late 2011 on the left side. They are currently regularly used for seeing-limited observing as well as for selective diffraction-limited observing and are required to be fully operational every observing night. By comparison the other telescopes using ASMs, the Multi Mirrot Telescope (MMT) and more recently Magellan, use fixed secondaries of seeing-limited observing and switch in the ASMs for diffraction-limited observing. We will discuss the night-to-night operational requirements for ASMs specifically for seeing-limited but also for diffraction-limited observations based on the LBT experience. These will include preparation procedures for observing (mirror flattening and resting as examples); hardware failure statistics and how to deal with them such as for the actuators; observing protocols for; and current limitations of use due to the ASM technology such as the minimum elevation limit (25 degrees) and the hysteresis of the gravity-vector induced astigmatism. We will also discuss the impact of ASM maintenance and preparation

When the one-ton Curiosity Rover landed on Mars in 2012, one of the ten instruments was a joint French and US-built laser remote sensing device. ChemCam ablates small amounts of rock and soil up to 25 feet away to determine their compositions by observing the plasma emission from a minute 0.5 mm analysis footprint. This “LIBS” technique provides semi-quantitative compositions with sensitivity to nearly every element in the periodic table, and with the important abilities to blast dust away prior to a rock analysis and to perform depth profiles with successive shots in one spot. Over 40,000 spectra have been returned in the first seven months of the mission. The talk will describe ChemCam and give an overview of the initial part of Curiosity’s mission.