Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an MIT-led, NASA-funded Explorer-class planet finder launched in April 2018. TESS will carry out a 2-year all-sky survey with the primary goal of detecting small transiting exoplanets around bright and nearby stars. The TESS instrument consists of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124139 |
| _version_ | 1826196722029690880 |
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| author | Nguyen, Tam T Morgan, Edward H Vanderspek, Roland K Levine, Alan M Kephart, Miranda E Francis, James E Zapetis, Joseph F Cahoy, Kerri Ricker, George R |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Nguyen, Tam T Morgan, Edward H Vanderspek, Roland K Levine, Alan M Kephart, Miranda E Francis, James E Zapetis, Joseph F Cahoy, Kerri Ricker, George R |
| author_sort | Nguyen, Tam T |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an MIT-led, NASA-funded Explorer-class planet finder launched in April 2018. TESS will carry out a 2-year all-sky survey with the primary goal of detecting small transiting exoplanets around bright and nearby stars. The TESS instrument consists of four wide-field cameras in a stacked configuration, providing a combined field of view of 24 deg × 96 deg that spans approximately from the ecliptic plane to the ecliptic pole. In order to achieve the desired photometric precision necessary for the mission, TESS uses the instrument cameras as star trackers during fine-pointing mode to enhance attitude accuracy and stabilization for science operations. We present our approach in quantifying the expected performance of the fine-pointing system and assessing the impact of pointing performance on the overall photometric precision of the mission. First, we describe the operational details of the fine-pointing system with the science instrument being used for star-tracking. Next, we present the testing framework used to quantify the attitude determination performance of the system and the expected attitude knowledge accuracy results, both in coarse-fine pointing hand-off and in nominal fine-pointing conditions. By combining simulations of the instrument and the spacecraft bus, we quantify the closed-loop fine-pointing stability performance of the system in nominal science operations as well as in the case of camera unavailability due to Earth/Moon interference. Finally, we assess the impact of platform pointing stability on the photometric precision of the system using detailed system modeling and discuss the applicability of mitigation techniques to reduce the effect of jitter on TESS science data. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:36:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/124139 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:36:51Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1241392022-09-30T21:47:05Z Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Nguyen, Tam T Morgan, Edward H Vanderspek, Roland K Levine, Alan M Kephart, Miranda E Francis, James E Zapetis, Joseph F Cahoy, Kerri Ricker, George R Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an MIT-led, NASA-funded Explorer-class planet finder launched in April 2018. TESS will carry out a 2-year all-sky survey with the primary goal of detecting small transiting exoplanets around bright and nearby stars. The TESS instrument consists of four wide-field cameras in a stacked configuration, providing a combined field of view of 24 deg × 96 deg that spans approximately from the ecliptic plane to the ecliptic pole. In order to achieve the desired photometric precision necessary for the mission, TESS uses the instrument cameras as star trackers during fine-pointing mode to enhance attitude accuracy and stabilization for science operations. We present our approach in quantifying the expected performance of the fine-pointing system and assessing the impact of pointing performance on the overall photometric precision of the mission. First, we describe the operational details of the fine-pointing system with the science instrument being used for star-tracking. Next, we present the testing framework used to quantify the attitude determination performance of the system and the expected attitude knowledge accuracy results, both in coarse-fine pointing hand-off and in nominal fine-pointing conditions. By combining simulations of the instrument and the spacecraft bus, we quantify the closed-loop fine-pointing stability performance of the system in nominal science operations as well as in the case of camera unavailability due to Earth/Moon interference. Finally, we assess the impact of platform pointing stability on the photometric precision of the system using detailed system modeling and discuss the applicability of mitigation techniques to reduce the effect of jitter on TESS science data. National Science Foundation (Grant 1122374) 2020-03-12T20:18:43Z 2020-03-12T20:18:43Z 2018-09 2020-03-09T17:49:34Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2329-4124 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124139 Nguyen, Tam et al. "Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite." Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 4, 4 (September 2018): 047001 © 2018 The Authors en http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.4.4.047001 Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ application/pdf application/pdf Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Nguyen, Tam T Morgan, Edward H Vanderspek, Roland K Levine, Alan M Kephart, Miranda E Francis, James E Zapetis, Joseph F Cahoy, Kerri Ricker, George R Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title | Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title_full | Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title_fullStr | Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title_short | Fine-pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| title_sort | fine pointing performance and corresponding photometric precision of the transiting exoplanet survey satellite |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124139 |
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