Orbiting stellar interferometer for astrometry and imaging

Abstract

The orbiting stellar interferometer (OSI) is a concept for a first-generation space interferometer with astrometric and imaging goals. The OSI is a triple Michelson interferometer with articulating siderostats and optical delay lines. Two point designs for the instrument are described. The 18-m design uses an 18-m maximum baseline and aperture diameters of 40 cm; the targeted astrometric performance is a wide-field accuracy of 10 microarsec for 16-mag objects in 100 s of integration time and for 20-mag objects in 1 h. The instrument would also be capable of synthesis imaging with a resolution of 5 marcsec, which corresponds to the diffraction limit of the 18-m base line. The design uses a deployed structure, which would fold to fit into an Atlas IIAS shroud, for insertion into a 900-km sun-synchronous orbit. In addition to the 18-m point design, a 7-m point design that uses a shorter base line in order to simplify deployment is also discussed. OSI's high performance is made possible by utilizing laser metrology and controlled-optics technology.