Abstract
The search for undiscovered planets outside the solar system is a scientific topic that is rapidly spreading into the astrophysical and engineering communities. In this framework, the design of an innovative payload to detect exoplanets from a nano-sized space platform, like a 3U cubesat, is presented. The selected detection method is photometric transit, and the payload aims to detect flux decrements down to ~0.01% with a precision of 12 ppm. The payload design is also aimed at false positive recognition. The solution consists of a four-facets pyramid on the top of the payload, to allow for measurement redundancy and low-resolution spectral dispersion of the star images. The innovative concept is the use of a small and cheap platform for a relevant astronomical mission. The faintest observable target star has V-magnitude equal to 3.38. Despite missions aimed at ultra-precise photometry from microsatellites (e.g., MOST, BRITE), the transit of exoplanets orbiting very bright stars has not yet been surveyed photometrically from space, since any observation from a small/medium sized (30 cm optical aperture) telescope would saturate the detector. This cubesat mission can provide these missing measurements. This work is set up as a demonstrative project to verify the feasibility of the payload concept.
Highlights
An exoplanet is a planet that is orbiting around a star other than the Sun
The criteria to list an exoplanet as confirmed are as follows: the mass is equal or less than 30 Jupiter masses; the planet is associated with a host star; sufficient follow-up observations and validation have been undertaken to deem that the object being a false positive is unlikely; the above information along with further orbital and/or physical properties are available in peer-reviewed publications) is 3449
Payload design for exoplanet transit detection from a 3U cubesat platform is a challenging mission, but it is consistent with the trend of using cheaper space platforms for highly demanding
Summary
An exoplanet is a planet that is orbiting around a star other than the Sun. An Earth-like planet is a habitable planet of approximately 1 Earth mass and 1 Earth radius, and in an Earth-like orbit around a Sun-like star at a distance of roughly 1 AU [1]. CHEOPS is the first small class mission from ESA (European Space Agency), scheduled in 2017, to detect exoplanet transit on stars with V-magnitude between six and twelve anywhere in the sky, observing in the band from 0.4 to 1.1 μm [6]. In a mission devoted to exoplanet detection through photometric transit there are several cases in which the target star brightness decreases for reasons other than a planet transit. The main reason for this rate in CoRoT is the large PSF size of each star, such that the detector saturation was avoided but the overlapping rate of star PSFs was increased This project combines the growing interest in the exoplanet search with the increasing success of the cubesat platform. The project aims at detecting exoplanet photometric transit, focusing on very bright stars, and discriminating a false positive detection
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