Jonathan Arenberg

Northrop Grumman · Space Systems

OASIS (Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems) is a space-based, MIDEX mission concept that employs a 14 meter inflatable aperture and cryogenic heterodyne receivers to perform high resolution (R>10 6) observations at terahertz frequencies. OASIS targets far-infrared transitions of H2O and its isotopologues, as well as HD...

A typical inflatable reflector for space application consists of two thin membranes with a parabolic shape. It is critical to understand the interaction of the inflatable and the micrometeoroid environment to which it is exposed. This interaction leads to a series of penetrations of the inflatable membrane on entrance and exit of the impacting part...

The Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems (OASIS) is a proposed space telescope with a 14 m inflatable primary reflector that will perform high spectral resolution observations at terahertz frequencies with heterodyne receivers. The telescope consists of an inflatable metallized polymer membrane that serves as the primar...

SALTUS (Single Aperture Large Telescope for Universe Studies) is a mid/far-infrared telescope concept utilizing a 20-m scale inflatable mirror antenna. The light-weight mirror utilizes a membrane architecture that has been developed and characterized specifically for space-based applications. The telescope's end-to-end optical design and optimizati...

The metrology of membrane structures, especially inflatable, curved, optical surfaces, remains challenging. Internal pressure, mechanical membrane properties, and circumferential boundary conditions imbue highly dynamic slopes to the final optic surface. Here, we present our method and experimental results for measuring a 1 m inflatable reflector’s...

Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems (OASIS) is a space-based, MIDEX-class mission concept that employs a 17-meter diameter inflatable aperture with cryogenic heterodyne receivers, enabling high sensitivity and high spectral resolution (resolving power ≥106) observations at terahertz frequencies. OASIS science is target...

This special section is dedicated to starshades: science, engineering, technology, and programmatics. Our reasons for organizing this special section are several fold. First as a new technology and with research accomplished in many institutions, recent results are widely scattered in the literature. As such, we see great value in colocating many o...

This special issue is dedicated to starshades: science, engineering, technology and programmatics. Our reasons for organizing this special issue are several fold. First as a new technology and with research accomplished in many institutions, recent results are widely scattered in the literature. As such, we see great value in co-locating many of th...

The addition of an external starshade to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will enable the direct imaging of Earth-radius planets orbiting at 1/41 AU. Classification of any detected planets as Earth-like requires both spectroscopy to characterize their atmospheres and multi-epoch imaging to trace their orbits. We consider here the ability of th...

The Origins Space Telescope will trace the history of our origins from the time dust and heavy elements permanently altered the cosmic landscape to present-day life. How did galaxies evolve from the earliest galactic systems to those found in the universe today? How do habitable planets form? How common are life-bearing worlds? We describe how Orig...

We report on our investigation into adapting the design of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to the needs and requirements of the Origins Space Telescope. The modifications needed to the equipment and insulation of the JWST design to achieve the 4.5-K design temperature for Origins are introduced and detailed. The Webb thermal model is modified...

The Origins Space Telescope will trace the history of our origins from the time dust and heavy elements permanently altered the cosmic landscape to present-day life. How did galaxies evolve from the earliest galactic systems to those found in the Universe today? How do habitable planets form? How common are life-bearing worlds? To answer these allu...

Launching a starshade to rendezvous with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope would provide the first opportunity to directly image the habitable zones of nearby sunlike stars in the coming decade. A report on the science and feasibility of such a mission was recently submitted to NASA as a probe study concept. The driving objective of the concept...

The addition of an external starshade to the {\it Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope} will enable the direct imaging of Earth-radius planets orbiting at $\sim$1 AU. Classification of any detected planets as Earth-like requires both spectroscopy to characterize their atmospheres and multi-epoch imaging to trace their orbits. We consider here the abil...

With the ongoing discovery of thousands of planets around other stars, the question of whether life exists on other worlds is not only compelling but is becoming answerable. However, due to the faintness of these distant worlds, a bold new generation of space telescopes, building on new technologies, is a must to search for signatures of life. We p...

Two disruptive space telescope concepts are being designed and developed at the University of Arizona; these are the 20-meter OASIS (Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems) and 8.5-meter Nautilus. OASIS combines break-through inflatable aperture and adaptive optics techniques to realize the dream of a 20 ⁺ meter class spa...

The mission concept, Cosmic Origins Through UV Surveys (CETUS) is an all-UV space mission concept that was selected and funded by NASA for study in 2017. The main capabilities of CETUS that even Hubble doesn't have are: (1) wide-field (17.4'x17.4') imaging and spectroscopy of astronomical sources with <0.5'' resolution; (2) spectral sensitivity to...

An orbiting starshade working with 30-m class ground-based telescopes would enable observations of reflected light from exoplanets at visible wavelengths. Molecular oxygen and water on an exo-Earth could be clearly detected in a 1-hour spectrum out to 7 pc, and its colors could be measured out to 17 pc. The starshade provides the needed contrast an...

An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them. This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most ambitious designs yet hope to characterize several dozen potentially habitable planets. Such a sample may be too sm...

Special section on Laser Damage IV editorial: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Optical-Engineering/volume-57/issue-12/121901/Special-Section-Guest-Editorial-Laser-Damage-IV/10.1117/1.OE.57.12.121901.full

This review paper addresses topics of fabrication, testing, alignment, and as-built performance of reflective space optics for the next generation of telescopes across the x-ray to far-infrared spectrum. The technology presented in the manuscript represents the most promising methods to enable a next level of astronomical observation capabilities f...

This paper summarizes our results of S-on-1 testing carried out over the last few years. Our experimental data sets were taken with nanosecond laser pulse durations. An attempt was made to use the same scaling laws with femtosecond pulse widths but it was not successful. The conclusion was made: there is no single model than can universally applied...

This paper uses an budgeting approach to examine the proposed X-ray Surveyor’s imaging quality. The paper presents a budget which is the same structure as that of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The budget is populated with terms that can be expected to be the same as that of Chandra, namely the contributions due to aspect solution and alignment bet...

Pursuing ground breaking science in a highly cost-constrained environment presents new challenges to the development of future space astrophysics missions. Within the conventional cost models for large observatories, executing a flagship “mission after next” appears to be unsustainable. To achieve our nation’s science ambitions requires not a parad...

The formation of water ice on key thermal and optical surfaces is a factor in the design of the James Webb Space Telescope. Many of these concerns are related to the mid-infrared stray light performance of the system. In this paper, an expression for the radiance of a contaminated surface is formulated, including directional, film thickness and coo...

This paper reports on the development, manufacture and integration of the James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshield and spacecraft. Both of these JWST elements have completed design and development testing. This paper will review basic architecture and roles of these systems. Also to be presented is the current state of manufacture, assembly integrati...

The concept of a laser damage threshold as a safe operating level is both useful and confounding. This paper examines and analyzes the power of the concept of a laser damage threshold, identifying the good and the danger in its use. The history of the definition and concept of the laser damage threshold is traced from the earliest days of the laser...

This paper contains lessons the author has gleaned from over 30 years of experience building optical systems. The author’s experience includes tactical lasers, laser damage measurements, space based astronomical observatories such as Chandra, James Webb Space Telescope as well as future technologies such as the starshade. These lessons cover engine...

This paper introduces a sensitivity test for characterizing the laser damage behavior of a sample. A sensitivity test analyzes unbinned laser damage test data to estimate the damage probability curve. The means of estimation is by employing a parametric model of the probability of damage and identifying the parameters most likely to produce the obs...

This paper introduces a method to determine the uncertainty in the model parameters for a laser damage measurement analyzed via maximum likelihood methods. The behavior of the model parameters with the number of sites (search length) is examined using repeated measurements of a virtual optic. This virtual optic is represented bya probability curve...

This paper reports on the analysis of laser damage measurements made on an entire lot of approximately identically processed and coated samples. Each sample's test data is analyzed to determine its probability of damage curve, pi(φ). The probability of damage curves are further processed to derive the defect distribution, fi(φ), for each sample. Th...

The derivation of contamination control (CC) requirements for the JWST Optical Telescope Element (OTE) was presented at the SPIE conference in 20081. Since then, much work has been done to allocate contamination at each phase of Integration and Test (IandT) and to plan for achieving the allocations. Because JWST is such a large and complicated obse...