26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

An Update on the Pyxis/SEIRIOS Inter-spacecraft Metrology System

Not scheduled

20m

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Contributed Oral ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Speaker

Anika Chan (Australian National University)

Description

Space telescopes consisting of multiple formation flying satellites are of growing interest to the astronomical instrumentation community, since they enable effective telescope apertures beyond what is physically feasible on Earth. Recently, successful deployment of the GRACE mission laser-ranging instrument and technical
developments for the LISA gravitational wave mission have demonstrated significant progress in space-compatible optical interferometric technologies. However, multi-satellite telescopes have stringent positioning requirements which have not been met by current ranging capabilities [1]. These metrology requirements have been a major technological barrier for previous space interferometry missions such as SIM, TPF-I and Darwin. They continue to be a challenge for current missions such as LIFE, a European-led mission aimed at developing a formation flying nulling interferometer capable of imaging terrestrial exoplanets [2].

The Pyxis/SEIRIOS interferometer is a technology demonstrator aimed at validating formation flying fringe tracking for the LIFE mission [3,4]. The inter-satellite metrology subsystem is a major component of this instrument, combining optical and RF phase detection techniques with pseudo-random code phase detection. Utilising these techniques in tandem allows us to overcome measurement range limitations while maintaining sub-wavelength distance measurement over interferometric path lengths up to 100 m, within a single system.

We present recent developments on system characterisation and prototyping progress for the Pyxis/SEIRIOS metrology subsystem. We focus on further reductions of the instrumental noise floor through cross-talk, cyclic error mitigation and the path towards space-qualified implementation.

[1] Monnier, John D., arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.09583 (2019).

[2] Quanz, Sascha P., Marcel Ottiger, E. Fontanet, Jens Kammerer, Franziska Menti, Felix Dannert, A. Gheorghe et al, Astronomy \& Astrophysics 664 (2022): A21.

[3] Hansen, Jonah T. et al, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 9, no. 4 (2023): 045001-045001.

[4] Ikari, Satoshi, Hirotaka Kondo, and Shinichi Nakasuka, 35th Annual Small Satellite Conference (2021).