Related papers: CubeSats as pathfinders for planetary detection: t…
In February, 1997, the second Space Shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Observatory will install the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). This new instrument will greatly enhance the spectroscopic capabilities of the Hubble…
COMCUBE-S (COMCUBE-S (Compton Telescope CubeSat Swarm) is a proposed mission aimed at understanding the radiation mechanisms of ultra-relativistic jets from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). It consists of a swarm of 16U CubeSats carrying a…
PicSat is a nanosatellite currently being developed to observe the transit of the giant planet \b{eta} Pictoris, expected some time between July 2017 and June 2018. The mission is based on a Cubesat architecture, with a small but ambitious…
One of the primary objectives of small satellites is to reduce the costs associated with spacecraft development and operations as compared to traditional spacecraft missions. Small satellite missions are generally able to reduce mission…
Precision astrometry at microarcsecond accuracy has application to a wide range of astrophysical problems. This paper is a study of the science questions that can be addressed using an instrument that delivers parallaxes at about 4…
Many advances in astronomy and astrophysics originate from accurate images of the sky emission across multiple wavelengths. This often requires reconstructing spatially and spectrally correlated signals detected from multiple instruments.…
The Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in T\"ubingen (IAAT) has a long-term experience in developing and building space-qualified imaging and photon counting microchannel-plate (MCP) detectors, which are sensitive in the ultraviolet…
The characterisation of exoplanets is critical to understanding planet diversity and formation, their atmospheric composition and the potential for life. This endeavour is greatly enhanced when light from the planet can be spatially…
Photonics has emerged as one of the leading platforms for the implementation of real-world-applicable quantum technologies, enabling secure communication, enhanced sensing capabilities, as well as resolving previously intractable…
India reached a major milestone in the area of space astronomy with the successful launch and post-launch operations of its first space observatory, AstroSat. The success of this space observatory and the lessons learned must be utilized…
Optical microresonators have recently attracted a growing attention in the photonics community. Their applications range from quantum electro-dynamics to sensors and filtering devices for optical telecommunication systems, where they are…
High-precision astrometry at the sub-microarcsecond level opens up a window to study Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars, and to determine their masses. It thus promises to play an important role in exoplanet science…
The Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommended a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) as its top priority for a new large space mission. The report of the WFIRST-AFTA Science Definition Team (SDT) presents a Design Reference Mission for…
The ultimate astronomical observatory would be a formation flying interferometer in space, immune to atmospheric turbulence and absorption, free from atmospheric and telescope thermal emission, and reconfigurable to adjust baselines…
Quantum sensing is a rapidly growing field of research which is already improving sensitivity in fundamental physics experiments. The ability to control quantum devices to measure physical quantities received a major boost from…
(abridged) A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood with uniform sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to several AUs…
LiteBIRD is a JAXA strategic L-class mission devoted to the measurement of polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, searching for the signature of primordial gravitational waves in the B-modes pattern of the polarization. The…
Wavefront cleaning by single-mode fibers has proved to be efficient in optical-infrared interferometry to improve calibration quality. For instance, the FLUOR instrument has demonstrated the capability of fluoride glass single-mode fibers…
The Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a NASA space mission in study for launch in 2024. It has a 2.4 m telescope, wide-field IR instrument operating in the 0.7 - 2.0 micron range and an exoplanet imaging coronagraph…
This paper presents initial flight results for distributed optical angles-only navigation of a swarm of small spacecraft, conducted during the Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment (StarFOX). StarFOX is a core payload of the NASA…