arXiv subjects

Philip Horzempa

Publications and source records attributed to Philip Horzempa.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Ice Giant Exploration Philosophy: Simple, Affordable

The key to the exploration of the Ice Giant planets is avoiding cutting edge technology. Complexity produces delay and financial roadblocks. Simple robot scouts can be launched in time to utilize gravity assists from Jupiter in the early 2030s. Demands on NASA's budget from large missions, such as Mars sample return, will not allow Flagship missions to Uranus and Neptune in the near term. The science goals of Ice Giant exploration can be accomplished by a series of fast, simple, affordable (FSA) craft. Separate lines of cost-capped Orbiters and Probes would be launched at a cadence dictated by trajectories and funding. Contractors would be selected using competitive Announcements of Opportunity (AO). The march of progress in spacecraft technology offers hope and a path forward. The key is to start small and keep it affordable.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Rigel Exoplanet Geologist

The Rigel concept calls for direct, on-surface, exploration of an exoplanet. This proposal will send a robot geologist to an exoplanet in the tau Ceti system. At a distance of 10 light-years, this may be the nearest system that includes a temperate rocky planet. As with Apollo, the Rigel project will provide a way to marshal efforts from many fields of engineering. The key to the Rigel concept is long-term development and management. A mission that lasts for a thousand years will require multi-generational oversight. Rigel may start out as a NASA project, but will later become a global endeavor. The construction of a robot ambassador from planet Earth can serve to unite the community of nations. It will bring out the best in us as we work on a project that will benefit our distant descendants.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Europa Exploration Philosophy

A Viking-class Europa Lander is a high-risk, high-cost venture. In its place, Europa should be explored by a series of low-cost scouts. These will be landers and small flyby craft. These missions will ascertain the nature of Europa's surface at a scale of meters to centimeters. Some will search for the presence of organic molecules. All of them will precede a large Europa Lander.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Calypso Venus Scout

This is a mission to explore the surface of Venus from low altitudes. The Calypso Venus Scout consists of a high-altitude balloon and a instrumented Descent Module (DM). The DM is deployed to an altitude of 10-25 km by means of a Tether where it obtains images, with meter and centimeter scale resolution, and rough IR spectra. It is reeled-in after several hours for a "cool down" cycle, then deployed again. The balloon remains at high-altitude with no need to be fortified to survive high-T and high-P of Venus' lower atmosphere.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Star Watch Astrometry Probe

The Star Watch extreme-precision astrometry mission (0.1 - 1.0 uas) builds on technology developed, and validated, during the SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) project. The sole science instrument is an optical interferometer with 50-cm collecting apertures, separated by a 6-meter baseline. The heart of this detector is the Astrometric Beam Combiner (ABC). This is flight-quality hardware that underwent testing at high levels of integration, retiring most technical risk (achieving TRL-6) after 10 years and $600 million of investment. The ABC is in storage at JPL, ready to complete testing, followed by integration with the mission support structure. Star Watch incorporates advances in technology since the end of the SIM project. These include smaller, lighter beam launchers and corner cubes for laser metrology; attitude-control micro-thrusters, allowing deletion of reaction wheels; and advanced fringe detectors. The technology pioneered by Star Watch, the first long-baseline Michelson interferometer in space, represents an important investment in the future of space astronomy. NASA's proposed Vision Missions (Exo-Earth, Black Hole and Cosmic Dawn Mappers) require the use of precision interferometers. No other Astrophysics Probe concept comes close to this level of technical readiness. There are no analogs to Star Watch. It will provide access, for the first time, to the realm of temperate Terrestrial worlds circling nearby sun-like stars, measuring true masses and orbits. This can be achieved by the close of the 2020s.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

High Definition Astrometry

High Definition Astrometry (0.1 - 1.0 micro-arcseconds) will open a new window into neighboring planetary systems. For the first time, the realm of temperate terrestrial worlds will be explored. This includes Earth Analogs, thereby allowing the value of eta-Earth to be directly determined, without resort to extrapolation. High Definition Astrometry will provide a means to confirm the existence of Radial Velocity (RV) planets while, at the same time, measuring true mass, along with orbit inclination and radius, i.e., system architecture. Planetary systems not amenable to RV search, such as those in a "face-on" orientation, will be surveyed for the first time. Extreme Precision Astrometry is not only useful, but is essential to the future of exoplanet research.

astro-ph.EP↗