Design aspects of a 30-m Giant Infrared and Submillimeter Observatory in space ("GISMO"): a new "flavor" for SAFIR?

Timothy G. Hawarden; Mark C. Cliffe; David M. Henry; Jason A. Stevens; Thomas Greve

doi:10.1117/12.551300

12 October 2004 Design aspects of a 30-m Giant Infrared and Submillimeter Observatory in space ("GISMO"): a new "flavor" for SAFIR?

Timothy G. Hawarden, Mark C. Cliffe, David M. Henry, Jason A. Stevens, Thomas Greve

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5487, Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551300
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

Inspired by a paper by Hyde (1999) (H99) we propose a 30-m diffractive Fresnel lens of ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) as the Primary Lens (L1) of a large cold far-IR and submillimetre space telescope. The design comprises Lens (L1) and Instrument (ISC) spacecraft 3 km apart, orbiting the Sun-Earth second Lagrangian point L2. In the Instrument S/C an off-axis Ritchey-Chretien Field Optical system (FO) re-images L1 onto a Fresnel corrector (FC). Achromatic over a bandpass λ/Δλ ~7.5 at a basic wavelength of 1.2mm and its harmonics, the design offers diffraction-limited performance from ~20 to ~700μm and a 1'x4' FOV. Positional tolerances appear to allow deployment of the lens by very simple means (we suggest using Shape Memory Alloys and pneumatic pressure). The most serious technical challenge may be material homogeneity. Behind an effective sunshade L1 should cool to ~10K by radiation to space in ~1y: its dominant heat source will be the zodiacal emission. GISMO resolves the FIR background at λ ~ 200μm: an all-sky survey to ~100μJy could in principle take <1y. GISMO should equal or outperform the 10m, 4K conceptual design for SAFIR (the Single-Aperture Far-IR and submillimetre mission, currently under study by NASA) in all observing modes and may offer a simpler (cheaper) and more capable alternative design “flavour” for this flagship future mission.

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Timothy G. Hawarden, Mark C. Cliffe, David M. Henry, Jason A. Stevens, and Thomas Greve "Design aspects of a 30-m Giant Infrared and Submillimeter Observatory in space ("GISMO"): a new "flavor" for SAFIR?", Proc. SPIE 5487, Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telescopes, (12 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551300

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