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Session 23 - Science with the Space Interferometry Mission.
Oral session, Wednesday, January 07
International Ballroom Center,
The Space Interferometry Mission will be the first spatial long-baseline optical interferometer in space. SIM is the first new mission in NASA's Origins program, following SIRTF. It is designed to perform wide-angle astrometry with 4 \muarcsec precision on objects as faint as V = 20, as well as synthesis imaging with 10 milliarcsec resolution, and interferometric nulling. As an example, this level of precision allows SIM to measure stellar parallax distances to 10%, and transverse velocities to 200 m/s, out to the far side of the Galaxy.
This talk will explain the design and operation of this first-of-a kind mission. Precision astrometry is achieved by monitoring the fringe pattern on the detector, while a laser metrology system measures the delay difference between the light paths through the instrument. Imaging is done by rotational synthesis, analogous to the technique used by ground-based radio interferometer arrays. The basic architecture and observing techniques of SIM are scalable to much larger deployed structures in planned future missions.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: unwin@huey.jpl.nasa.gov
