EXTREMELY HIGH CONTRAST IMAGING CAPABILITIES ARE NEEDED TO DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE EARTH-LIKE EXOPLANETS. TO ENABLE THIS ADAPTIVE OPTICS TECHNOLOGY IS USED TO CORRECT FOR WAVEFRONT DISTORTIONS CAUSED BY THERMAL AND MECHANICAL EFFECTS ON THE SPACECRAFT. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO ADVANCE ADAPTIVE OPTICS TECHNOLOGY FOR SPACE TELESCOPES BY IMPLEMENTING NEW WAVEFRONT SENSING AND CONTROL ALGORITHMS AND ANALYZING FLIGHT DATA FROM ON ORBIT ON ORBIT TESTING WITH THE DEFORMABLE MIRROR (DEMI) CUBESAT MISSION IN ORDER TO PLAN FOR FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY IN SPACE.

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators