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The Stellar Imager (SI) Mission ConceptThe Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a space-based, UV optical interferometer composed of 10 or more one-meter class elements distributed with a maximum baseline of 0.5 km. It will image stars and binaries with one hundred to one thousand resolution elements on their surface and enable long-term studies of stellar magnetic activity patterns and their evolution with time, for comparison with those on the sun. It will also sound their interiors through asteroseismology to image internal structure, differential rotation, and large-scale circulations. SI will enable us to understand the various effects of magnetic fields of stars, the dynamos that generate them, and the internal structure and dynamics of the stars in which they exist. The ultimate goal is to achieve the best-possible forecasting of solar activity on times scales ranging up to decades, and an understanding of the impact of stellar magnetic activity on astrobiology and life in the Universe. The road to that goal will revolutionize our understanding of stars and stellar systems, the building blocks of the Universe. Fitting naturally within the NASA and ESA long-term time lines, SI complements defined missions, and with them will show us entire other solar systems, from the central star to their orbiting planets. In this paper we will describe the scientific goals of the mission, the performance requirements needed to address those goals, and the design concepts now under study.
Document ID
20010085348
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Carpenter, Kenneth G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Neff, Susan G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Armstrong, Thomas J.
(Naval Research Lab. United States)
Pauls, Thomas A.
(Naval Research Lab. United States)
Schrijver, Carolus J.
(Stanford-Lockheed Inst. for Space Research United States)
Fisher, Richard R.
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 14, 2001
Subject Category
Optics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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