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Space Interferometry Mission
The Space Interferometry Mission, or SIM, also known as SIM Lite (formerly known as SIM PlanetQuest), was a planned space telescope proposed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in conjunction with contractor Northrop Grumman. One of the main goals of the mission was the hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of nearby stars other than the Sun. SIM was postponed several times and finally cancelled in 2010. In addition to detecting extrasolar planets, SIM would have helped astronomers construct a map of the Milky Way galaxy. Other important tasks would have included collecting data to help pinpoint stellar masses for specific types of stars, assisting in the determination of the spatial distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way and in the local group of galaxies and using the gravitational microlensing effect to measure the mass of stars. The spacecraft would have used optical interferometry to accomplish these and other scientific goals.
The initial contracts for SIM Lite were awarded in 1998, totaling US$200 million. Work on the SIM project required scientists and engineers to move through eight specific new technology milestones, and by November 2006, all eight had been completed. SIM Lite was originally proposed for a 2005 launch, aboard an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). As a result of continued budget cuts, the launch date was pushed back at least five times. NASA had set a preliminary launch date for 2015. As of February 2007, many of the engineers working on the SIM program had moved on to other areas and projects, and NASA directed the project to allocate its resources toward engineering risk reduction. However, the preliminary budget for NASA for 2008 included zero dollars for SIM.
In 2007, the Congress restored funding for fiscal year 2008 as part of an omnibus appropriations bill which the President later signed. At the same time the Congress directed NASA to move the mission forward to the development phase. In 2009 the project continued its risk reduction work while waiting for the findings and recommendations of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, Astro2010, performed by the National Academy of Sciences, which would determine the project's future.
In 2010, the Astro2010 Decadal Report was released and did not recommend that NASA continue the development of the SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory. This prompted NASA Astronomy and Physics Director, Jon Morse, to issue a letter on 24 September 2010 to the SIM Lite project manager, informing him that NASA was discontinuing its sponsorship of the SIM Lite mission and directing the project to discontinue Phase B activities immediately or as soon as practical. Accordingly, all SIM Lite activities were closed down by the end of calendar year 2010.
SIM Lite would have operated in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit, drifting away from Earth at the rate of 0.1 AU per year ultimately reaching a distance of 82 million km from Earth. This would have taken approximately 5+1⁄2 years. The Sun would have continuously shone on the spacecraft, allowing it to avoid the occultations of target stars and eclipses of the Sun that would occur in an Earth orbit.
Had it been launched, SIM would have performed scientific research for five years.
SIM Lite would have been the most powerful extrasolar planet hunting space telescope ever built. Through the technique of interferometry the spacecraft would be able to detect Earth-sized planets. SIM Lite was to perform its search for nearby, Earth-like planets by looking for the "wobble" in the parent star's apparent motion as the planet orbits. The spacecraft would have accomplished this task to an accuracy of one millionth of an arcsecond, or the thickness of a nickel viewed at the distance from Earth to the Moon. Titled the Deep Search, the planet hunting program was intended to search approximately 60 nearby stars for terrestrial planets (like Earth and Venus) in the habitable zone (where liquid water can exist throughout a full revolution (one "year") of the planet around its star). The Deep Search was to be the most demanding in terms of astrometric accuracy, hence the name, Deep Search. This program would have used the full capability of the SIM Lite spacecraft to make its measurements.
A flexible search strategy tunes SIM Lite's mass sensitivity at each star to a desired level in the habitable planet search. The value of ηEarth (Eta_Earth), the fraction of stars carrying Earth-analog planets, will be estimated by the Kepler Mission some time before SIM Lite launches. One strategy for a habitable planet search is to do a 'deeper' search (i.e. to lower mass sensitivity in the habitable zone) of a smaller number of targets if Earth analogs are common. A 'shallower' search of a larger number of targets could have been done if Earth analogs are rarer. For example, assuming that 40% of mission time is allocated for the planet search, SIM Lite could have surveyed:
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Space Interferometry Mission
The Space Interferometry Mission, or SIM, also known as SIM Lite (formerly known as SIM PlanetQuest), was a planned space telescope proposed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in conjunction with contractor Northrop Grumman. One of the main goals of the mission was the hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of nearby stars other than the Sun. SIM was postponed several times and finally cancelled in 2010. In addition to detecting extrasolar planets, SIM would have helped astronomers construct a map of the Milky Way galaxy. Other important tasks would have included collecting data to help pinpoint stellar masses for specific types of stars, assisting in the determination of the spatial distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way and in the local group of galaxies and using the gravitational microlensing effect to measure the mass of stars. The spacecraft would have used optical interferometry to accomplish these and other scientific goals.
The initial contracts for SIM Lite were awarded in 1998, totaling US$200 million. Work on the SIM project required scientists and engineers to move through eight specific new technology milestones, and by November 2006, all eight had been completed. SIM Lite was originally proposed for a 2005 launch, aboard an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). As a result of continued budget cuts, the launch date was pushed back at least five times. NASA had set a preliminary launch date for 2015. As of February 2007, many of the engineers working on the SIM program had moved on to other areas and projects, and NASA directed the project to allocate its resources toward engineering risk reduction. However, the preliminary budget for NASA for 2008 included zero dollars for SIM.
In 2007, the Congress restored funding for fiscal year 2008 as part of an omnibus appropriations bill which the President later signed. At the same time the Congress directed NASA to move the mission forward to the development phase. In 2009 the project continued its risk reduction work while waiting for the findings and recommendations of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, Astro2010, performed by the National Academy of Sciences, which would determine the project's future.
In 2010, the Astro2010 Decadal Report was released and did not recommend that NASA continue the development of the SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory. This prompted NASA Astronomy and Physics Director, Jon Morse, to issue a letter on 24 September 2010 to the SIM Lite project manager, informing him that NASA was discontinuing its sponsorship of the SIM Lite mission and directing the project to discontinue Phase B activities immediately or as soon as practical. Accordingly, all SIM Lite activities were closed down by the end of calendar year 2010.
SIM Lite would have operated in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit, drifting away from Earth at the rate of 0.1 AU per year ultimately reaching a distance of 82 million km from Earth. This would have taken approximately 5+1⁄2 years. The Sun would have continuously shone on the spacecraft, allowing it to avoid the occultations of target stars and eclipses of the Sun that would occur in an Earth orbit.
Had it been launched, SIM would have performed scientific research for five years.
SIM Lite would have been the most powerful extrasolar planet hunting space telescope ever built. Through the technique of interferometry the spacecraft would be able to detect Earth-sized planets. SIM Lite was to perform its search for nearby, Earth-like planets by looking for the "wobble" in the parent star's apparent motion as the planet orbits. The spacecraft would have accomplished this task to an accuracy of one millionth of an arcsecond, or the thickness of a nickel viewed at the distance from Earth to the Moon. Titled the Deep Search, the planet hunting program was intended to search approximately 60 nearby stars for terrestrial planets (like Earth and Venus) in the habitable zone (where liquid water can exist throughout a full revolution (one "year") of the planet around its star). The Deep Search was to be the most demanding in terms of astrometric accuracy, hence the name, Deep Search. This program would have used the full capability of the SIM Lite spacecraft to make its measurements.
A flexible search strategy tunes SIM Lite's mass sensitivity at each star to a desired level in the habitable planet search. The value of ηEarth (Eta_Earth), the fraction of stars carrying Earth-analog planets, will be estimated by the Kepler Mission some time before SIM Lite launches. One strategy for a habitable planet search is to do a 'deeper' search (i.e. to lower mass sensitivity in the habitable zone) of a smaller number of targets if Earth analogs are common. A 'shallower' search of a larger number of targets could have been done if Earth analogs are rarer. For example, assuming that 40% of mission time is allocated for the planet search, SIM Lite could have surveyed:
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