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Terrestrial Planet Finder

 
Terrestrial Planet Finder

 
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Terrestrial Planet Finder
 
 
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The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is a proposed project by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
 of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 for a telescope
Telescope

A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century....
 system which is intended to detect
Methods of detecting extrasolar planets

Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of detecting such a faint light source, the light from the parent star causes a glare that washes it out....
 extrasolar
Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
 terrestrial planet
Terrestrial planet

A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, rocky planet or inner planet is a planet that is primarily composed of silicate Rock s....
s.

ay 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development.






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Terrestrial Planet Finder Pia04499
The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is a proposed project by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
 of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 for a telescope
Telescope

A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century....
 system which is intended to detect
Methods of detecting extrasolar planets

Any planet is an extremely faint light source compared to its parent star. In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of detecting such a faint light source, the light from the parent star causes a glare that washes it out....
 extrasolar
Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
 terrestrial planet
Terrestrial planet

A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, rocky planet or inner planet is a planet that is primarily composed of silicate Rock s....
s.

History

In May 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development. Each would use a different means to achieve the same goal—to block the light from a parent star
Star

A star is a massive, luminous ball of Plasma that is held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth....
 in order to see its much smaller, dimmer planets. That technology challenge has been likened to finding a firefly
Firefly

Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey....
 near the beam of a distant searchlight
Searchlight

A searchlight is an apparatus with reflectors for projecting a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direction,...
. Additional goals of the mission would include characterizing the surfaces and atmospheres of newfound planets, and looking for the chemical signatures of life. In May 2004, both architectures were approved. Congressional spending limits under House Resolution 20 passed on January 31, 2007, by the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
 and February 14 by the U.S. Senate have postponed the program indefinitely.

The two planned architectures were:
  • Infrared
    Infrared

    Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves ....
     astronomical interferometer
    Astronomical interferometer

    An astronomical interferometer is an array of telescopes or mirror segments acting together to probe structures with higher resolution. Astronomical interferometers are widely used for optical astronomy, infrared astronomy, submillimetre astronomy and radio astronomy....
     (TPF-I): Multiple small telescopes on a fixed structure or on separated spacecraft floating in precision formation would simulate a much larger, very powerful telescope. The interferometer would use a technique called nulling to reduce the starlight by a factor of one million, thus enabling the detection of the very dim infrared emission from the planets.
  • Visible Light Coronagraph
    Coronagraph

    A coronagraph is a Telescope attachment designed to block out the direct light from a star so that nearby objects – which otherwise would be hidden in the star's bright glare – can be resolved....
     (TPF-C): A large optical telescope, with a mirror three to four times bigger and at least 10 times more precise than the Hubble Space Telescope
    Hubble Space Telescope

    The Hubble Space Telescope is a Space observatory that was carried into Low Earth orbit STS-31 in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble....
    , would collect starlight and the very dim reflected light from the planets. The telescope would have special optics to reduce the starlight by a factor of one billion, thus enabling astronomers to detect the faint planets.


NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a List of federally funded research and development centers and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, California, United States....
 (JPL) were to issue calls for proposals seeking input on the development and demonstration of technologies to implement the two architectures, and on scientific research relevant to planet finding. Launch of TPF-C had been anticipated to occur around 2014, and TPF-I possibly by 2020.

According to NASA's 2007 budget documentation, released on February 6, 2006, the project was deferred indefinitely. In June 2006, a House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
 subcommittee voted to provide funding for the TPF along with the long-sought mission to Europa
Europa (moon)

'Europa' is the Moons_of_Jupiter#Table Natural satellite of the planet Jupiter. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei , and named after a mythical Phoenician noblewoman, Europa , who was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete....
, a moon of Jupiter that might harbor extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life which does not originate from Earth. It is the subject of astrobiology and its existence remains hypothetical, because there is no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life which has been generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community....
. However, as of June 2008, actual funding has not materialized, and TPF remains without a launch date.

The European Space Agency
European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmentalism organisation dedicated to the Space exploration, currently with 18 member states....
, ESA, is considering a similar mission, called Darwin
Darwin (ESA)

Darwin is a European Space Agency program designed to directly detect Earth-like extrasolar planet, and search for evidence of extraterrestrial life....
.

Top 10 target stars


Rank Target star Constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 Distance
(light-year
Light-year

A light-year or light year is a Units of measurement of length, equal to just under ten orders_of_magnitude_%28numbers%29#1012 kilometres....
s)		 Spectral type
Stellar classification

In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on its spectrum characteristics. The spectral class of a star, is a designation of a class to a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excited states are most prominent in the light, giving an objective measure of the temperature in this chr...
1 Alpha Centauri A Centaurus
Centaurus

Centaurus is a bright constellation in the celestial sphere. list of constellations by area constellations in the sky, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by of 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations....
 4.3 G2V
2 Alpha Centauri B Centaurus
Centaurus

Centaurus is a bright constellation in the celestial sphere. list of constellations by area constellations in the sky, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by of 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations....
 4.3 K1V
3 Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti

Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is similar to the Sun in mass and Stellar classification. At just under 12 light years' distance from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star....
 Cetus
Cetus

Cetus is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name refers to Cetus , a sea monster in Greek mythology, although it is often called 'the whale' today....
 12 G8V
4 Eta Cassiopeiae
Eta Cassiopeiae

Eta Cassiopeiae is a star system 19.4 light years away from Earth, in the constellation Cassiopeia . Sometimes the traditional name Achird is used....
 Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia (constellation)

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky. In Greek mythology it was considered to represent the vain queen Cassiopeia , who boasted about her unrivaled beauty....
 19 G3V
5 Beta Hydri
Beta Hydri

Beta Hydri is a star in the constellation Hydrus .It is about 24.4 light years away from Earth. Beta Hydri is often studied because it might give insights on what might happen to our Sun in the next 2.5 billion years....
 Hydrus
Hydrus

Hydrus is a small constellation in the southern sky, created in the sixteenth century. Its name means "male water snake", and it should not be confused with Hydra , a much larger constellation which represents a female water snake....
 24 G2IV
6 Delta Pavonis
Delta Pavonis

Delta Pavonis is a star about 19.9 light years away from Earth. It is in constellation Pavo ....
 Pavo
Pavo (constellation)

Pavo is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for peacock. It is one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius....
 20 G8V
7 Orion
Orion (constellation)

Orion , often referred to as "The Hunter," is a prominent constellation ? one of the largest, most conspicuous, and most recognizable in the night sky....
 26 F6V
8 Gamma Leporis
Gamma Leporis

Gamma Leporis is a multiple star system which is located at a distance of about 29 light-years from Earth and consists of 2 or 3 stars: Gamma Leporis A, Gamma Leporis B and possibly Gamma Leporis C....
 Lepus
Lepus (constellation)

Lepus is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. Lepus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations....
 29 F7V
9 Epsilon Eridani
Epsilon Eridani

Epsilon Eridani is a main sequence star of stellar classification K2. Only 10.5 light years away, it is the closest star in the constellation Eridanus , as well as the third List of nearest stars visible to the naked eye....
 Eridanus
Eridanus (constellation)

Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Greek language name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations....
 10 K2V
10 40 Eridani
40 Eridani

40 Eridani is a triple star star system less than 16.5 light years away from Earth. It is in the constellation Eridanus . The primary star of the system, 40 Eridani A, is easily visible to the naked eye....
 Eridanus
Eridanus (constellation)

Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Greek language name for the Po River. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations....
 16 K1V


See also

  • Great Observatories program
    Great Observatories program

    NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large, powerful space-based telescopes. Each of the Great Observatories has had a similar size and cost at program outset, and each has made a substantial contribution to astronomy....
  • Space Interferometry Mission (SIM PlanetQuest)
    Space Interferometry Mission

    The Space Interferometry Mission, also known as SIM PlanetQuest, is a planned Space observatory being developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration , in conjunction with contractor Northrop Grumman....
  • CoRoT
    Corot

    Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology...
     (ESA)
  • Darwin (ESA)
    Darwin (ESA)

    Darwin is a European Space Agency program designed to directly detect Earth-like extrasolar planet, and search for evidence of extraterrestrial life....
  • New Worlds Mission
  • Exozodiacal dust
    Exozodiacal dust

    Exozodiacal dust is the exozodiacal analog of zodiacal dust, the 1-100 micrometre-sized grains of silicate dust that fill the plane of the solar system, especially interior to the asteroid belt....


External links

  • by
  • . Planetary Society (2006-11-26).