Project Blue: Visible Light Imaging Search for Terrestrial-class Exoplanets in the Habitable Zones of Alpha Centauri A and B

Project Blue is designed to deliver a small coronagraphic space telescope mission to low-Earth orbit capable of detecting an Earth-like planet in the habitable zones of the Sun-like stars Alpha Centauri A and B within the next 4 years within a Mission of Opportunity budget envelope.

The concept heavily leverages emerging commercial capabilities — including the telescope optics, spacecraft bus and launch vehicle — and emphasizes a public-private partnership approach.

Jon Morse, Eduardo Bendek, Nathalie Cabrol, Franck Marchis, Margaret Turnbull, Supriya Chakrabarti, Debra Fischer, Colin Goldblatt, Olivier Guyon, Michael Hart, Jared Males, Jim Kasting
(Submitted on 13 Mar 2018)

Comments:    5 pages; White paper submitted to the Exoplanet Science Strategy study of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Subjects:    Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as:    arXiv:1803.04872 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:1803.04872v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: Jon Morse
[v1] Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:15:46 GMT (953kb)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.04872