The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): a space mission for mid-infrared nulling interferometry

Adrian M. Glauser; Sascha P. Quanz; Jonah Hansen; Felix Dannert; Michael Ireland; Hendrik Linz; Olivier Absil; Eleonora Alei; Daniel Angerhausen; Thomas Birbacher; Denis Defrère; Andrea Fortier; Philipp A. Huber; Jens Kammerer; Romain Laugier; Tim Lichtenberg; Lena Noack; Mohanakrishna Ranganathan; Sarah Rugheimer; Vladimir Airapetian; Yann Alibert; Pedro J. Amado; Marius Anger; Narsireddy Anugu; Max Aragon; David J. Armstrong; Amedeo Balbi; Olga Balsalobre-Ruza; Deepayan Banik; Mathias Beck; Surendra Bhattarai; Jonas Biren; Jacopo Bottoni; Marrick Braam; Alexis Brandeker; Lars A. Buchhave; José A. Caballero; Juan Cabrera; Ludmila Carone; Óscar Carrión-González; Amadeo Castro-González; Kenny Chan; Ligia F. Coelho; Tereza Constantinou; Nicolas Cowan; William Danchi; Colin Dandumont; Jeanne Davoult; Arjun Dawn; Jean-Pierre P. de Vera; Pieter J. de Visser; Caroline Dorn; Juan A. Duque Lara; Mark Elowitz; Steve Ertel; Yuedong Fang; Simon Felix; Jonathan Fortney; Malcolm Fridlund; Antonio García Muñoz; Cedric Gillmann; Gregor Golabek; John Lee Grenfell; Greta Guidi; Octavio Guilera; Janis Hagelberg; Janina Hansen; Jacob Haqq-Misra; Nathan Hara; Ravit Helled; Konstantin Herbst; Nina Hernitschek; Sasha Hinkley; Takahiro Ito; Satoshi Itoh; Stavro Ivanovski; Markus Janson; Anders Johansen; Hugh Jones; Stephen Kane; Daniel Kitzmann; Andjelka B. Kovacevic; Stefan Kraus; Oliver Krause; J. M. Diederik Kruijssen; Rolf Kuiper; Alen Kuriakose; Lucas Labadie; Sylvestre Lacour; Antonino F. Lanza; Laurits Leedjärv; Monika Lendl; Michaela Leung; Jorge Lillo-Box; Jérôme Loicq; Rafael Luque; Suvrath Mahadevan; Liton Majumdar; Fabien Malbet; Franco Mallia; Joice Mathew; Taro Matsuo; Elisabeth Matthews; Victoria Meadows; Bertrand Mennesson; Michael R. Meyer; Karan Molaverdikhani; Paul Mollière; John Monnier; Ramon Navarro; Benard Nsamba; Kenshiro Oguri; Apurva Oza; Enric Palle; Carina Persson; Joe Pitman; Eva Plávalová; Francisco J. Pozuelos; Andreas Quirrenbach; Ramses Ramirez; Ansgar Reiners; Ignasi Ribas; Malena Rice; Berke Vow Ricketti; Peter Roelfsema; Amedeo Romagnolo; María Paula Ronco; Martin Schlecker; Jessica Schonhut-Stasik; Edward Schwieterman; Antranik A. Sefilian; Eugene Serabyn; Chinmay Shahi; Siddhant Sharma; Laura Silva; Swapnil Singh; Evan L. Sneed; Locke Spencer; Vito Squicciarini; Johannes Staguhn; Karl Stapelfeldt; Keivan Stassun; Motohide Tamura; Benjamin Taysum; Floris van der Tak; Tim A. van Kempen; Gautam Vasisht; Haiyang S. Wang; Robin Wordsworth; Mark Wyatt

doi:10.1117/12.3019090

28 August 2024 The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): a space mission for mid-infrared nulling interferometry

Adrian M. Glauser, Sascha P. Quanz, Jonah Hansen, Felix Dannert, Michael Ireland, Hendrik Linz, Olivier Absil, Eleonora Alei, Daniel Angerhausen, Thomas Birbacher, Denis Defrère, Andrea Fortier, Philipp A. Huber, Jens Kammerer, Romain Laugier, Tim Lichtenberg, Lena Noack, Mohanakrishna Ranganathan, Sarah Rugheimer, Vladimir Airapetian, Yann Alibert, Pedro J. Amado, Marius Anger, Narsireddy Anugu, Max Aragon, David J. Armstrong, Amedeo Balbi, Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, Deepayan Banik, Mathias Beck, Surendra Bhattarai, Jonas Biren, Jacopo Bottoni, Marrick Braam, Alexis Brandeker, Lars A. Buchhave, José A. Caballero, Juan Cabrera, Ludmila Carone, Óscar Carrión-González, Amadeo Castro-González, Kenny Chan, Ligia F. Coelho, Tereza Constantinou, Nicolas Cowan, William Danchi, Colin Dandumont, Jeanne Davoult, Arjun Dawn, Jean-Pierre P. de Vera, Pieter J. de Visser, Caroline Dorn, Juan A. Duque Lara, Mark Elowitz, Steve Ertel, Yuedong Fang, Simon Felix, Jonathan Fortney, Malcolm Fridlund, Antonio García Muñoz, Cedric Gillmann, Gregor Golabek, John Lee Grenfell, Greta Guidi, Octavio Guilera, Janis Hagelberg, Janina Hansen, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Nathan Hara, Ravit Helled, Konstantin Herbst, Nina Hernitschek, Sasha Hinkley, Takahiro Ito, Satoshi Itoh, Stavro Ivanovski, Markus Janson, Anders Johansen, Hugh Jones, Stephen Kane, Daniel Kitzmann, Andjelka B. Kovacevic, Stefan Kraus, Oliver Krause, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Rolf Kuiper, Alen Kuriakose, Lucas Labadie, Sylvestre Lacour, Antonino F. Lanza, Laurits Leedjärv, Monika Lendl, Michaela Leung, Jorge Lillo-Box, Jérôme Loicq, Rafael Luque, Suvrath Mahadevan, Liton Majumdar, Fabien Malbet, Franco Mallia, Joice Mathew, Taro Matsuo, Elisabeth Matthews, Victoria Meadows, Bertrand Mennesson, Michael R. Meyer, Karan Molaverdikhani, Paul Mollière, John Monnier, Ramon Navarro, Benard Nsamba, Kenshiro Oguri, Apurva Oza, Enric Palle, Carina Persson, Joe Pitman, Eva Plávalová, Francisco J. Pozuelos, Andreas Quirrenbach, Ramses Ramirez, Ansgar Reiners, Ignasi Ribas, Malena Rice, Berke Vow Ricketti, Peter Roelfsema, Amedeo Romagnolo, María Paula Ronco, Martin Schlecker, Jessica Schonhut-Stasik, Edward Schwieterman, Antranik A. Sefilian, Eugene Serabyn, Chinmay Shahi, Siddhant Sharma, Laura Silva, Swapnil Singh, Evan L. Sneed, Locke Spencer, Vito Squicciarini, Johannes Staguhn, Karl Stapelfeldt, Keivan Stassun, Motohide Tamura, Benjamin Taysum, Floris van der Tak, Tim A. van Kempen, Gautam Vasisht, Haiyang S. Wang, Robin Wordsworth, Mark Wyatt

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX; 130951D (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019090
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract

The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) is a proposed space mission that enables the spectral characterization of the thermal emission of exoplanets in the solar neighborhood. The mission is designed to search for global atmospheric biosignatures on dozens of temperate terrestrial exoplanets and it will naturally investigate the diversity of other worlds. Here, we review the status of the mission concept, discuss the key mission parameters, and outline the trade-offs related to the mission’s architecture. In preparation for an upcoming concept study, we define a mission baseline based on a free-formation flying constellation of a double Bracewell nulling interferometer that consists of 4 collectors and a central beam-combiner spacecraft. The interferometric baselines are between 10–600m, and the estimated diameters of the collectors are at least 2m (but will depend on the total achievable instrument throughput). The spectral required wavelength range is 6–16μm (with a goal of 4–18.5μm), hence cryogenic temperatures are needed both for the collectors and the beam combiners. One of the key challenges is the required deep, stable, and broad-band nulling performance while maintaining a high system throughput for the planet signal. Among many ongoing or needed technology development activities, the demonstration of the measurement principle under cryogenic conditions is fundamentally important for LIFE.

Conference Presentation

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Adrian M. Glauser, Sascha P. Quanz, Jonah Hansen, Felix Dannert, Michael Ireland, Hendrik Linz, Olivier Absil, Eleonora Alei, Daniel Angerhausen, Thomas Birbacher, Denis Defrère, Andrea Fortier, Philipp A. Huber, Jens Kammerer, Romain Laugier, Tim Lichtenberg, Lena Noack, Mohanakrishna Ranganathan, Sarah Rugheimer, Vladimir Airapetian, Yann Alibert, Pedro J. Amado, Marius Anger, Narsireddy Anugu, Max Aragon, David J. Armstrong, Amedeo Balbi, Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, Deepayan Banik, Mathias Beck, Surendra Bhattarai, Jonas Biren, Jacopo Bottoni, Marrick Braam, Alexis Brandeker, Lars A. Buchhave, José A. Caballero, Juan Cabrera, Ludmila Carone, Óscar Carrión-González, Amadeo Castro-González, Kenny Chan, Ligia F. Coelho, Tereza Constantinou, Nicolas Cowan, William Danchi, Colin Dandumont, Jeanne Davoult, Arjun Dawn, Jean-Pierre P. de Vera, Pieter J. de Visser, Caroline Dorn, Juan A. Duque Lara, Mark Elowitz, Steve Ertel, Yuedong Fang, Simon Felix, Jonathan Fortney, Malcolm Fridlund, Antonio García Muñoz, Cedric Gillmann, Gregor Golabek, John Lee Grenfell, Greta Guidi, Octavio Guilera, Janis Hagelberg, Janina Hansen, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Nathan Hara, Ravit Helled, Konstantin Herbst, Nina Hernitschek, Sasha Hinkley, Takahiro Ito, Satoshi Itoh, Stavro Ivanovski, Markus Janson, Anders Johansen, Hugh Jones, Stephen Kane, Daniel Kitzmann, Andjelka B. Kovacevic, Stefan Kraus, Oliver Krause, J. M. Diederik Kruijssen, Rolf Kuiper, Alen Kuriakose, Lucas Labadie, Sylvestre Lacour, Antonino F. Lanza, Laurits Leedjärv, Monika Lendl, Michaela Leung, Jorge Lillo-Box, Jérôme Loicq, Rafael Luque, Suvrath Mahadevan, Liton Majumdar, Fabien Malbet, Franco Mallia, Joice Mathew, Taro Matsuo, Elisabeth Matthews, Victoria Meadows, Bertrand Mennesson, Michael R. Meyer, Karan Molaverdikhani, Paul Mollière, John Monnier, Ramon Navarro, Benard Nsamba, Kenshiro Oguri, Apurva Oza, Enric Palle, Carina Persson, Joe Pitman, Eva Plávalová, Francisco J. Pozuelos, Andreas Quirrenbach, Ramses Ramirez, Ansgar Reiners, Ignasi Ribas, Malena Rice, Berke Vow Ricketti, Peter Roelfsema, Amedeo Romagnolo, María Paula Ronco, Martin Schlecker, Jessica Schonhut-Stasik, Edward Schwieterman, Antranik A. Sefilian, Eugene Serabyn, Chinmay Shahi, Siddhant Sharma, Laura Silva, Swapnil Singh, Evan L. Sneed, Locke Spencer, Vito Squicciarini, Johannes Staguhn, Karl Stapelfeldt, Keivan Stassun, Motohide Tamura, Benjamin Taysum, Floris van der Tak, Tim A. van Kempen, Gautam Vasisht, Haiyang S. Wang, Robin Wordsworth, and Mark Wyatt "The Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE): a space mission for mid-infrared nulling interferometry", Proc. SPIE 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX, 130951D (28 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019090

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