Astrobot swarms are used to capture astronomical signals to generate the map of the observable universe for the purpose of dark energy studies. The convergence of each swarm in the course of its coordination has to surpass a particular threshold to yield a satisfactory map. The current coordination methods do not always reach desired convergence rates. Moreover, these methods are so complicated that

Mid-resolution Infrared Astronomical Spectrograph (MIRADAS) is a near-infrared multi-object echelle spectrograph for Gran Telescopio de Canarias. It selects targets from a 5-arc min field of view using up to 12 deployable probe arms with pick-off mirror optics. The focal plane where the probe arms move has a diameter around 250 mm. The specific geometry of the probe arms requires an optimized collision

The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) concept is designed to investigate the creation and dispersal of elements essential to life, the formation of planetary systems, and the transport of water to habitable worlds and the atmospheres of exoplanets around nearby K- and M-dwarfs to identify potentially habitable—and even inhabited—worlds. These science priorities are aligned with NASA’s three major astrophysics

As the crisis of climate change affects more people every year and leads to more severe weather patterns with unprecedented socio-economical consequence, all actors on the planet need to understand their responsibility and contribute to solving this generational problem. To tackle this issue, individuals and corporations first need to assess their carbon footprint, which then represents the groundwork

The Origins Space Telescope’s orders-of-magnitude improvement over the scientific capabilities of prior infrared (IR) missions is based on its cold telescope (4.5 K) combined with low-noise far-IR detectors and ultra-stable mid-IR detectors. A number of trades were made in favor of a design with staged cooling, avoiding warm objects in the cold zones and minimizing the number of deployments and their

The Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment (DEUCE) is a rocket-borne, ultraviolet spectrograph specifically designed to obtain the first flux-calibrated spectra of nearby B stars ϵ and β Canis Majoris (CMa) across the Lyman limit at 912 Å. These observations will help quantify the contribution of such stars to modern ionization in the intergalactic medium. The payload operates in two

Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) carried by x-ray telescopes are powerful tools for the study of neutron stars and black holes. Several methods, such as optimal filtering or principal component analysis, have already been developed to analyze x-ray data from these sensors. However, these techniques may be hard to implement in space. Our goal is to develop a lower-computational-cost technique

We describe an approach to coronagraphic focal-plane wavefront control that utilizes gradient-based nonlinear optimization along with analytical gradients obtained with algorithmic differentiation to find deformable mirror solutions. In addition to eliminating the cost of calculating a high-dimensional finite-difference Jacobian matrix, we show that this approach leads to improved asymptotic computational

We develop a simple coordinate transformation that can be employed to compensate for the nonlinearity introduced by a microwave kinetic inductance detector’s (MKID) homodyne readout scheme. This coordinate system is compared to the canonically used polar coordinates and is shown to improve the performance of the filtering method often used to estimate a photon’s energy. For a detector where the coordinate

We report on our investigation into adapting the design of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to the needs and requirements of the Origins Space Telescope. The modifications needed to the equipment and insulation of the JWST design to achieve the 4.5-K design temperature for Origins are introduced and detailed. The Webb thermal model is modified to the Origins design and used to predict the heat

The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) study team prepared and submitted a Mission Concept Study Report for the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astrophysics. During the study, a Materials Working Group was formed to evaluate materials for Origins. The Materials Working Group identified material candidates and evaluated the candidates using driving requirements and key material considerations. The evaluation

This erratum corrects errors in Table 2.

Adaptive optics (AO) has become an indispensable tool for ground-based telescopes to mitigate atmospheric seeing and obtain high angular resolution observations. Predictive control aims to overcome latency in AO systems: the inevitable time delay between wavefront measurement and correction. A current method of predictive control uses the empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) framework borrowed from

Contamination is always troublesome in spacecraft development, but it has yet to be investigated because outgassing, transportation, deposition, and re-emission largely depend on spacecraft design. Designing spacecraft requires an accurate estimate of contaminant emission and deposition. Particularly for today’s sophisticated spacecraft, analytical tools would be indispensable—but current simulations

The Origins Space Telescope’s (Origins) significant improvement over the scientific capabilities of prior infrared missions is based on its cold telescope (4.5 K) combined with low-noise far-IR detectors and ultrastable mid-IR detectors. A small number of new technologies will enable Origins to approach the fundamental sensitivity limit imposed by the natural sky background and deliver groundbreaking

Our paper discusses the optical design of the Origins Space Telescope. Origins is one of four large missions under study in preparation for the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Sensitive to the mid- and far-infrared spectrum (between 2.8 and 588 μm), Origins sets out to answer a number of important scientific questions by addressing NASA’s three key science goals in astrophysics.

The Off-plane Grating Rocket Experiment (OGRE) is a soft x-ray grating spectrometer to be flown on a suborbital rocket. The payload is designed to obtain the highest-resolution soft x-ray spectrum of Capella to date with a resolution goal of R ( λ / Δλ ) > 2000 at select wavelengths in its 10 to 55 Å bandpass of interest. The optical design of the spectrometer realizes a theoretical maximum resolution

The Heterodyne Receiver for Origins (HERO) is the first detailed study of a heterodyne focal plane array receiver for space applications. HERO gives the Origins Space Telescope the capability to observe at very high spectral resolution (R = 107) over an unprecedentedly large far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths range (111 to 617 μm) with high sensitivity, with simultaneous dual polarization and dual-frequency

The development of the Skipper-charge-coupled devices (Skipper-CCDs) has been a major technological breakthrough for sensing very weak ionizing particles. The sensor allows to reach the ultimate sensitivity of silicon material as a charge signal sensor by unambiguous determination of the charge signal collected by each cell or pixel, even for single electron–hole pair ionization. Extensive use of the

The Origins Space Telescope will trace the history of our origins from the time dust and heavy elements permanently altered the cosmic landscape to present-day life. How did galaxies evolve from the earliest galactic systems to those found in the Universe today? How do habitable planets form? How common are life-bearing worlds? To answer these alluring questions, Origins will operate at mid- and far-infrared

The KM3NeT infrastructure consists of two deep-sea neutrino telescopes being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. The telescopes will detect extraterrestrial and atmospheric neutrinos by means of the incident photons induced by the passage of relativistic charged particles through the seawater as a consequence of a neutrino interaction. The telescopes are configured in a three-dimensional grid of digital

This is a list of reviewers who served the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems in 2020.

The Origins Space Telescope mission concept includes an exoplanet transit spectrometer that requires detector arrays with ultrahigh pixel-to-pixel stability. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, or SNSPDs, have the potential to meet these stringent stability requirements due to their digital-like output. Traditionally used for applications at near-IR telecom wavelengths, SNSPDs have demonstrated

The Origins Space Telescope is one of four flagship missions under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. With a 5.9-m cold (4.5 K) telescope deployed from space, Origins promises unprecedented sensitivity in the near-, mid-, and far-infrared from 2.8 to 588 μm. This mandates the use of ultrasensitive and stable detectors in all of the Origins instruments. At the present, no known detectors

Electron multiplying charge-coupled devices (EMCCDs) are a variant of standard CCD technology capable of single-optical photon counting at MHz pixel readout rates. For photon counting, thermal dark signal and clock-induced charge (CIC) are the dominant source of noise and must be minimized to reduce the likelihood of coincident events. Thermal dark signal is reduced to low levels through cooling or

Athena, a future high-energy mission, is expected to consist of a large aperture x-ray mirror with a focal length of 12 m. The mirror surface is to be coated with iridium and a low Z overcoat. To define the effective area of the x-ray telescope, the atomic scattering factors of iridium with an energy resolution less than that (2.5 eV) of the x-ray integral field unit are needed. We measured the reflectance

Conventional two-mirror optical telescope designs are well known. An attempt to improve the performance of a two-mirror telescopic system using freeform surface is reported. Four variants of the optical design that use symmetric and off-axis freeform surfaces for achieving superior performances in the spectral range from 400 to 900 nm are proposed. These designs are compared with the conventional Ritchey–Chretien

Quantum capacitance detectors (QCDs) are photon shot noise-limited terahertz detectors based on a single Cooper-pair box superconducting qubit. The QCD has demonstrated photon shot noise-limited performance for 1.5 THz radiation under loading conditions between 10 − 20 and 10 − 18 W and single-photon detection and counting at that frequency. We report here fabrication and preliminary characterization

We present an analytical design method for the three-mirror anastigmatic (TMA) telescope with mirror spacings as the free design parameter. After the optical designer determines, the system focal length and the mirror spacings according to the design requirements, the design solutions of all TMA telescopes that meet the conditions can be obtained directly according to the formulas for the mirror radius

In interstellar travel, parallax and stellar aberration have a non-negligible influence on the star identification of star sensors. Through the analysis of the working principle of star sensors, only the guide star catalog generation can solve this problem. The influence mechanism of parallax and stellar aberration is synthetically analyzed by four-dimensional time-space diagrams, and a generation

We have published the optical design and early test results of the Roman Space Telescope grism spectrometer in previous SPIE proceedings. We report the follow-on activity of the spectral and radiometric calibrations, including the calibration methods, experiment designs, and test equipment calibration, such as the light source and detectors used in the test. The grism calibration includes the throughput

Direct imaging instruments have the spatial resolution to resolve exoplanets from their host star. This enables direct characterization of the exoplanets atmosphere, but most direct imaging instruments do not have spectrographs with high enough resolving power for detailed atmospheric characterization. We investigate the use of a single-mode diffraction-limited integral-field unit that is compact and

Recently, complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) sensors have progressed to a point where they may offer improved performance in imaging x-ray detection compared to the charge-coupled devices often used in x-ray satellites. We demonstrate x-ray detection in the soft x-ray band (250 to 1700 eV) by a commercially available back-illuminated Sony IMX290LLR CMOS sensor using the Advanced Photon

The impact on an optical surface by a micrometeoroid gives rise to a specific type of stray light inherent only in the space optical instruments. This causes a double source of light scattering: the impact crater and the ejected contamination. We propose a method of stray light estimation and apply it to the case of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna telescope. We estimate the backscattering fraction

There is interest in deploying digital micromirror devices (DMDs) in space for use in multi-object spectrometers, but the devices must first be qualified for space deployment. An environmental test campaign has been carried out on eXtended Graphics Array (XGA) DMDs to qualify the devices for space deployment. The campaign has included mechanical shock and vibration, low temperature, proton radiation

A frequent problem arising for deep space missions is the discrepancy between the amount of data desired to be transmitted to the ground and the available telemetry bandwidth. A part of these data consists of scientific observations, being complemented by calibration data to help remove instrumental effects. We present our solution for this discrepancy, implemented for the Polarimetric and Helioseismic

Mid-infrared detector arrays operating from 2.8 to 20 μm are baselined in the design of the Origins Space Telescope Mid-Infrared Spectrometer Instrument. This instrument is designed to detect and measure the spectral signatures of gases of biogenic origin in the atmospheres of exoplanets as they transit their host stars. In order to make these detections, the detector array’s pixels need to have high-signal

Focal plane wavefront sensing is an appealing technique to cophase multiple aperture telescopes. Phase diversity (PD), operable with any aperture configuration or source extension, generally suffers from high computing load. We introduce, characterize, and experimentally validate the linearized analytical phase diversity (LAPD) algorithm, based on a fast linearized PD algorithm with a capture range

HaloSat is a CubeSat-class microsatellite sensitive in the 0.4 to 7.0 keV energy band and designed to survey the entire sky in search of soft x-ray emissions from highly ionized oxygen residing in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy. Those observations will help constrain the mass and spatial distribution of the Milky Way halo and help us understand if hot galactic halos constitute a significant contribution

Understanding and reducing in-orbit instrumental backgrounds are essential to achieving high sensitivity in hard x-ray astronomical observations. The observational data of the Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) onboard the Hitomi satellite provide useful information on the background components due to its multilayer configuration with different atomic numbers: the HXI consists of a stack of four layers of Si

We investigate the design of an active support system for the thin primary mirror of a mid-sized telescope system used for optical satellite communication and space debris observation. To handle the complexity of this task, a general design methodology is proposed. The design for the axial and lateral support is separated into several subtasks to reduce the number of design variables in every design

A bi-axial centralized butterfly flexure hinge for a fast steering mirror (FSM) was presented to adapt highly stabile accuracy of beam-pointing control performance in space laser communication. According to the requirements of two-dimensional reciprocating movements and high bandwidth provided for the FSM, the solid model of the bi-axial centralized butterfly flexure hinge was designed. By applying

In our Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) program, we aim to improve measurements of variability of astronomical targets on millisecond and shorter time scales. In this work, we present initial on-sky measurements of the performance of silicon photomultiplier detectors (SiPMs) for UFA. We mounted two different SiPMs at the focal plane of the 0.7-m aperture Nazarbayev University Transient Telescope at the Assy-Turgen

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) formerly known as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope will answer fundamental questions about the evolution of dark energy over time and expand the catalog of known exoplanets into new regions of parameter space. Using a Hubble-sized mirror and 18 newly developed HgCdTe 4K × 4K photodiode arrays (H4RG-10), the Roman Space Telescope will measure the

The payload of the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2), the second generation of the FIREBall instrument (PI: C. Martin, Caltech), has been calibrated and launched from the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. FIREBall-2 was launched for the first time on the September 22, 2018, and the payload performed the very first multi-object acquisition

We present the current status of Hα high-contrast imaging observations with Subaru/Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics + VAMPIRES. Our adaptive optics correction at optical wavelengths in combination with (double) spectral differential imaging (SDI) and angular differential imaging (ADI) was capable of resolving a ring feature around omi Cet and detect the Hα counterpart of jet around RY Tau

Future space telescopes with coronagraph instruments will use a wavefront sensor (WFS) to measure and correct for phase errors and stabilize the stellar intensity in high-contrast images. The HabEx and LUVOIR mission concepts baseline a Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS), which uses Zernike’s phase contrast method to convert phase in the pupil into intensity at the WFS detector. In preparation for these

The Kepler mission was a National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) Discovery-class mission designed to continuously monitor the brightness of at least 100,000 stars to determine the frequency of Earth-size and larger planets orbiting other stars. Once the Kepler proposal was chosen for a flight opportunity, it was necessary to optimize the design to accomplish the ambitious goals specified in the

We have fabricated a blazed x-ray reflection grating with a period of 160 nm using thermally activated selective topography equilibration (TASTE) and electron-beam (ebeam) physical vapor evaporation. TASTE makes use of grayscale ebeam lithography to create three-dimensional (3-D) structures in resist, which can then be thermally reflown into a desired profile. A blazed grating profile can be fabricated

The NASA/ASI imaging x-ray polarimetry explorer, which will be launched in 2021, will be the first instrument to perform spatially resolved x-ray polarimetry on several astronomical sources in the 2- to 8-keV energy band. These measurements are made possible owing to the use of a gas pixel detector (GPD) at the focus of three x-ray telescopes. The GPD allows simultaneous measurements of the interaction

Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) is the latest instrument installed at the European Southern Observatory (ESO)-Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile. To fulfill its scientific requirements, ESPRESSO can operate both in 1-UT mode (using any of the four VLT unit telescopes) and in 4-UT mode. In 4-UT mode, the light of the four 8-m telescopes

This erratum corrects the omission of authors and references from the paper as it was originally published.

Multiobject spectroscopy is applied in numerous modern astronomical facilities conducting observations of a large number of targets per pointing. Assigning the maximum number of targets to these instruments requires efficient algorithms. We present a simple and effective algorithm, the averaging (Aver) algorithm, to maximize the number of assigned targets for the first few visits of a given field.

Next-generation radio telescopes, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), require precise microwave frequency reference signals to be transmitted over fiber links to each dish to coherently sample astronomical signals. Such telescopes employ phase stabilization systems to suppress the phase noise imparted on the reference signals by environmental perturbations

I describe the plans, flows, key facilities, test beds, pathfinders, simulators, and ground support equipment that could be used to fully integrate, functionally test, and qualify the Origins Space Telescope (Origins). The Origins observatory consists of the spacecraft bus module and the cryogenic payload module, which comprises the telescope and three science instruments. The telescope is a three-mirror

HERMES is a scientific mission composed of 3U nanosatellites dedicated to the detection and localization of high-energy astrophysical transients, with a distributed space architecture to form a constellation in Earth orbits. The space segment hosts novel miniaturized detectors to probe the x-ray temporal emission of bright events, such as gamma-ray bursts, and the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational

Effective area is one of the most important parameters of x-ray telescopes. It can be increased by enlarging the entrance aperture or maximizing the reflectivity through the proper designing and optimization of the reflecting coating. A method to increase the reflectivity of grazing incidence x-ray mirrors in the 0.5- to 8-keV energy region is analyzed. The idea consists in the use of a trilayer reflecting

Deformable mirrors (DMs) are a critical technology to enable coronagraphic direct imaging of exoplanets with current and planned ground- and space-based telescopes as well as future mission concepts, such as the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory and the Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor. The latter concepts aim to image exoplanet types ranging from gas giants to Earth analogs. This places several requirements

Stellar coronagraphs rely on deformable mirrors (DMs) to correct wavefront errors and create high-contrast images. Imperfect control of the DM limits the achievable contrast, and therefore, the DM control electronics must provide fine surface height resolution and low noise. We study the impact of quantization errors due to the DM electronics on the image contrast using experimental data from the High

The time-resolved soft x-ray spectrometer (TSXS) aboard on the X-ray Pulsar Navigation Test Satellite is an x-ray timing spectrometer covering the energy range of 0.5 to 10 keV. It is China’s first focusing x-ray telescope launched into space orbit. The optical system of TSXS is an x-ray grazing incidence focusing system with a field of view 15 arc min, which is nested with 4 parabolic mirrors with