U.Colorado-Boulder Proposal To Image Distant Planets Funded For FurtherStudy By NASA (Forwarded)

Office of News Services
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado

Contact:
Webster Cash, (303) 492-4056,
Jim Scott, (303) 492-3114

Sept. 30, 2004

CU Proposal To Image Distant Planets Funded For Further Study By NASA

A NASA institute has selected a new University of Colorado at Boulder proposal
for further study that describes how existing technologies can be used to study
planets around distant stars with the help of an orbiting "starshade."

The concept by CU-Boulder Professor Webster Cash of the Center for Astrophysics
and Space Astronomy was one of 12 proposals selected for funding Sept. 28 by the
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, or NIAC. Cash's proposal details the
methods needed to design and build what essentially is a giant "pinhole camera"
in space.

The football field-sized starshade would be made of thin, opaque material and
contain an aperture, or hole, in the center roughly 30 feet in diameter to
separate a distant planet's light from the light of its adjacent parent star,
Cash said. A detector spacecraft equipped with a telescope would trail tens of
thousands of miles behind the orbiting starshade to collect the light and
process it.

Such a system could be used to map planetary systems around other stars, detect
planets as small as Earth's moon and search for "biomarkers" such as methane,
water, oxygen and ozone. Known as the New Worlds Imager, the system also could
map planet rotation rates, detect the presence of weather and even confirm the
existence of liquid oceans on distant planets, he said.

"In its most advanced form, the New Worlds Imager would be able to capture
actual pictures of planets as far away as 100 light-years, showing oceans,
continents, polar caps and cloud banks," said Cash. If extra-terrestrial
rainforests exist, he said, they might be distinguishable from deserts.

"To me, one of the most interesting challenges in space astronomy today is the
detection of exo-solar planets," said Cash. "We have created an affordable
concept with very practical technology that would allow us to conduct planet
imaging in visible and other wavelengths of light."

The beauty of the pinhole as an optical device is that it functions as an almost
perfect lens, said Cash, who is a professor in CU-Boulder's astrophysical and
planetary sciences department. 'This device would remove the limiting problem of
light scattered from the parent star due to optical imperfections."

The successful proposal was authored by Cash, Princeton University's Jeremy
Kasdin and Sara Seager of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Nine other
proposal advisers from universities and industry contributed to the New Worlds
Imager concept, said Cash.

NIAC was created in 1998 to solicit revolutionary concepts from people and
organizations outside the space agency that could advance NASA's missions. The
winning concepts, chosen because they "push the limits of known science and
technology," are expected to take at least a decade to develop if they
eventually are selected for a mission flight, according to NASA.

In 1999, Cash headed a winning NIAC proposal for a new, powerful x-ray telescope
technology that will allow astronomers to peer into the mouths of black holes.
That telescope package is now under development by NASA as the multi-million
dollar MAXIM mission and is slated for launch next decade.

Other concepts funded in 2004 by NIAC include a proposal for a lunar space
elevator, new super-conducting magnet technology for astronaut radiation
protection and a magnetized beam plasma-propulsion system.

Teams that submitted winning proposals to NIAC this year were awarded $75,000
for a Phase 1, six-month viability study. Those proposals that go on to win
approval for Phase 2 studies next year by the space agency will be funded with
up to $400,000 for two additional years, according to NASA.

"We are thrilled to team up with imaginative people from industry and
universities to discover innovative systems that meet the tremendous challenge
of space exploration and development," said NIAC Director Robert Cassanova.
Cassanova also is a member of the Universities Space Research Association, which
administers NIAC for NASA.

In message , Andrew Yee
writes
Office of News Services
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado

Contact:
Webster Cash, (303) 492-4056,
Jim Scott, (303) 492-3114

Sept. 30, 2004

CU Proposal To Image Distant Planets Funded For Further Study By NASA

A NASA institute has selected a new University of Colorado at Boulder
proposal for further study that describes how existing technologies can
be used to study planets around distant stars with the help of an
orbiting "starshade."

The concept by CU-Boulder Professor Webster Cash of the Center for
Astrophysics and Space Astronomy was one of 12 proposals selected for
funding Sept. 28 by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, or NIAC.
Cash's proposal details the methods needed to design and build what
essentially is a giant "pinhole camera" in space.

The football field-sized starshade would be made of thin, opaque
material and contain an aperture, or hole, in the center roughly 30
feet in diameter to separate a distant planet's light from the light of
its adjacent parent star, Cash said. A detector spacecraft equipped
with a telescope would trail tens of thousands of miles behind the
orbiting starshade to collect the light and process it.

In effect, these people are proposing a full-scale solar sail :-)
I wish them luck.