JAXA recently selected LAPYUTA (Life-environmentology, Astronomy, and PlanetarY Ultraviolet Telescope Assembly) as a candidate for JAXA's Small Scale Program No. 6 to be launched by Epsilon in ~2032. We will accomplish the following four objectives: #1 Solar System, #2 Exoplanets, #3 Galaxies, #4 the origin of heavy elements. To achieve these scientific objectives, LAPYUTA aims to carry out spectroscopy with a large effective area (>300 cm2) and a high spatial resolution (0.1 arc-sec) and imaging in far ultraviolet spectral range (110-190 nm). A high dispersion spectrograph with a spectral resolution of > 40000 is required, especially for observing exospheres of terrestrial (Earth-like) exoplanets. We are considering the design of the Spectrograph with High dispersion Echelle grating for the Terrestrial (exo-)planetary Atmosphere (SHETA) as an instrument. In this presentation, we introduce the scientific objective and the conceptual design of the SHETA instrument.
The Lunar Ultraviolet Observatory (OUL) is a small instrument designed to map the Earth exosphere, the magnetosphere and the near-Earth space while orbiting the Moon. It can operate either as a flight-alone cubesat mission or as an instrument. The observatory is a small space telescope to be set in Lunar orbit to produce wide field images (10x10 deg2) in narrow and broad bands in the 115-175 nm spectral range. In this presentation, we will describe the results of the on-going tests of critical optical elements.
Ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools used in a wide range of scientific fields from planetary science to astronomy. We propose a future UV space telescope, LAPYUTA (Life-environmentology, Astronomy, and PlanetarY Ultraviolet Telescope Assembly), selected as a candidate for JAXA’s 6th M-class mission in 2023. Launch is planned for the early 2030s. LAPYUTA will accomplish the following four objectives related to two scientific goals: understanding (1) the habitable environment and (2) the origin of structure and matter in the universe. Objective 1 focuses on the subsurface ocean environments of Jupiter's icy moons and the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. Objective 2 characterizes the atmosphere of the exoplanets around the habitable zone and estimates their surface environment by detecting their exospheric atmosphere. In cosmology and astronomy, Objective 3 tests whether the structures of presentday galaxies contain ubiquitous Ly-α halos and reveals the physical origins of Ly-α halos. Objective 4 elucidates the synthesis process of heavy elements based on observations of ultraviolet radiation from hot gas immediately after neutronstar mergers. LAPYUTA will perform spectroscopic and imaging observations in the far-UV range of 110-190 nm with an effective area of >300 cm2 and a high spatial resolution of 0.1 arcsec. The apogee is 2,000 km, and the perigee is 1,000 km to avoid the influence of the geocorona when observing oxygen and hydrogen atoms and the Earth's radiation belt.
A small UV imager named HI (Hydrogen Imager) is under development to observe the hydrogen coma of a long-period comet or Interstellar object from space. The instrument will be aboard one of the probes for ESA's Comet Interceptor mission, scheduled for launch in 2029. This mission will remain at the Sun-Earth Second Lagrange Point (SEL2) until an optimal target (a reachable long-period comet or interstellar object) is detected through ground observation. During the cruise from SEL2 to the target, HI will observe the cometary hydrogen coma, which emits Lyman-alpha (wavelength 121.6 nm) through the resonance scattering of solar light. Additionally, during the closest approach phase, lasting several tens of hours, HI will measure Lyman-alpha emissions from both hydrogen and deuterium in the coma using switchable gas filters. The optical design, filters, and detector of HI are optimized for observing Lyman-alpha, with dimensions smaller than 100 mm × 100 mm × 250 mm and power consumption less than 9 W. The mirrors are coated with Al/MgF2 to enhance UV reflectance and maintain reflectivity during ground operations before launch. Two gas filters containing hydrogen and deuterium molecules, respectively, are installed to deduce the hydrogen/deuterium brightness ratio of the coma. A Z-stacked MCP detector assembled with a resistive anode is used, without a photocathode, to prevent degradation during ground operations.
OUL is a wide field imager designed as a small, additional payload to be attached to the Luna 26 mission. The instrument has a field of view of 20° × 20° and provides images with angular resolution 3 arcmin in several far ultraviolet bands, including Lyman-α, He II at 164nm and several continuum bands. The imager is designed to monitor the Earth’s exosphere and the ecliptic (+/-20°) primary at Lyman-α and in the 125-140 nm and 145-170 nm bands. In this contribution, the optical design of the instrument, its mechanical layout and the science program to be implemented will be described.
Many Earth-sized planets have been discovered and some of them are potentially in the habitable zone. In addition, several Earth-sized planets have been detected around low temperature stars near our solar system. However, it is difficult to characterize them as Earth-like or Venus-like, even though they are relatively very close to our solar system. We performed a conceptual design of an Ultraviolet Spectrograph for Exoplanet (UVSPEX) for World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO-UV), which is 1.7-m UV space telescope being prepared by Russia. The spectral range is to exceed wavelengths from 115 nm to 135 nm to detect at least H Lyman alpha 121.6nm to O I 130 nm. The throughput is >4%. UVSPEX is planned to be a part of a Field Camera Unit (FCU). This additional instrument would enable us to observe ~20 Earth-like exoplanets and detect an oxygen exosphere if some of them have an Earth-like atmosphere.
There is a growing interest in lunar exploration fed by the perception that the Moon can be made accessible to low-cost missions in the next decade. The ongoing projects to set a communications relay in lunar orbit and a deep space gateway, as well as the spreading of commercial-of-the shelf technology for small space platforms such as the cubesats contribute to this perception. Small, cubesat size satellites orbiting the Moon offer ample opportunities to study the Moon and enjoy an advantage point to monitor the Solar System and the large-scale interaction between the Earth and the solar wind. We describe the technical characteristics of a 12U cubesat to be set in polar lunar orbit for this purpose and the science behind it. The mission is named Earth as an exoplanet (EarthASAP) and is submitted to the Lunar Cubesats for Exploration call in 2016. EarthASAP is designed to monitor hydrated rock reservoirs in the lunar poles and to study the interaction between the large Earth’s exosphere and the solar wind in preparation for future exoplanetary missions.
We present our development of high-efficiency reflective grating development by holographic processing. Its primary objective is to carry out exoplanet science studies in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength region using space-borne telescopes. While the final development goal is aspheric grating, in this study, we manufactured planar grating samples with laminar and blazed grooves for our first step in order to establish processing conditions and to evaluate characteristics of each grating. Geometry of the manufactured gratings is 30×30×10 mm, and their groove density is 2400/mm. It was confirmed by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) evaluation that laminar and blazed grooves were constructed on the surface of each grating. The measured absolute diffraction efficiency achieved by the brazed grating is 40.2% and 44.1% at wavelengths of 122 nm and 131 nm, respectively. These values are higher than values of the laminar grating by factor of ∼1.5.
The World Space Observatory for Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) is an orbital optical telescope with a 1.7-m diameter primary mirror currently under development. The WSO-UV is aimed to operate in the 115- to 310-nm UV spectral range. Its two major science instruments are UV spectrographs and UV imaging field cameras with filter wheels. The WSO-UV project is currently in the implementation phase, with a tentative launch date in 2023. As designed, the telescope field of view in the focal plane is not fully occupied by instruments. Recently, two additional instruments devoted to exoplanets have been proposed for WSO-UV, which are the focus of this paper. UVSPEX, a UV-spectrograph for exoplanets, aims to determine atomic hydrogen and oxygen abundance in the exospheres of terrestrial exoplanets. The spectral range is 115 to 130 nm, which enables simultaneous measurement of hydrogen and oxygen emission intensities during an exoplanet transit. A study of exosphere transit photometric curves can help differentiate among different types of rocky planets. The exospheric temperature of an Earth-like planet is much higher than that of a Venus-like planet because of the low mixing ratio of the dominant coolant (CO2) in the upper atmosphere of the former, which causes a large difference in transit depth at the oxygen emission line. Thus, whether the terrestrial exoplanet is Earth-like, Venus-like, or other can be determined. A Stellar Coronagraph for Exoplanet Direct Imaging (SCEDI) is aimed to directly detect the starlight reflected from exoplanets orbiting their parent stars or from the stellar vicinity including circumstellar disks, dust, and clumps. SCEDI will create an achromatic (optimized to 420- to 700-nm wavelength range), high-contrast stellocentric coronagraphic image of a circumstellar vicinity. The two instruments, such as UVSPEX and SCEDI, share common power and control modules. The present communication outlines the science goals of both proposed instruments and explains some of their engineering features.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.