BAE Systems to Advance Stable Optical Technology for NASA's HWO Mission

BAE Systems to Advance Stable Optical Technology for NASA's HWO Mission
by Sophie Jenkins
London, UK (SPX) Jul 15, 2024

BAE Systems, in collaboration with L3Harris Technologies and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), has been chosen as one of three teams to develop technologies for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). HWO is an innovative telescope designed to search for signs of life beyond our solar system and conduct detailed astronomical observations. Its primary objective is to identify and study Earth-like planets orbiting other stars to assess their potential to support life. The observatory will also explore stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe's evolution with unparalleled sensitivity and resolution.

The team will embark on a two-year research initiative named the Ultra-stable Large Telescope Research and Analysis Program - Critical Technologies (ULTRA-CT). This program aims to enhance the performance of large space telescopes by advancing ultra-stable optical systems. Laura Coyle, principal optical engineer and astrophysics technology lead for BAE Systems' Space and Mission Systems sector, will serve as the principal investigator. ULTRA-CT builds on the team's previous work from two NASA projects: ULTRA, a one-year study identifying technology gaps for large segmented systems, and ULTRA-TM, a four-year effort to mature key component-level technologies.

Observing exoplanets is particularly challenging due to the faintness of the light they reflect compared to the stars they orbit. For an Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star, this brightness ratio, or "contrast," is about 10 billion to 1. Achieving this level of starlight suppression requires a coronagraph and an extremely stable, large telescope to gather enough controlled light. The stability needed for a 10 billion to 1 contrast is on the order of picometers - one trillionth of a meter - far exceeding current technology. The HWO telescope must be a thousand times more stable than the James Webb Space Telescope.

"Even slight thermal changes and minor vibrations will impact the telescope's ability to maintain the contrast necessary to make these observations, so we need a system with both passive and active elements to minimize and compensate for disturbances," said Coyle. "Bolstered by a legacy of supporting NASA's most ambitious missions, our ULTRA team of engineers is excited to develop technologies that will address stability at the picometer level and continue to advance this groundbreaking project."

HWO is NASA's next flagship astrophysics mission following the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is slated for launch by 2027.