![Mapping of the science cases proposed by the Science Working Groups (center) to the questions and discovery areas identified by Astro2020 (left and right). The transparencies of the lines indicate the number of connections with darker lines indicating stronger links between the SWG and the Astro2020 topic. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Early-Exploration.png?resize=1200%2C711&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a future NASA flagship mission concept identified by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey as the highest priority for large space missions. HWO should conduct […]
astro-ph.IM
![CAD layout of the MANTIS spacecraft showing how the instrument unit and spacecraft unit are distinct, with a single 37-pin micro-D connector between the two. This is a significant reduction in complexity to prior CU-LASP CubeSats where the instrument and spacecraft by necessity are integrated. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Optomechanical.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inCubesats and smallsats
Optomechanical Design of the MANTIS SmallSat: An Extreme-, Far- and Near-Ultraviolet Spectrograph for Exoplanet Host Stars
[astro-ph.IM] The MANTIS (Monitoring Activity of Nearby sTars with uv Imaging and Spectroscopy) observatory is a compact, multi-instrument small satellite designed for simultaneous extreme- (EUV; 100 – 560 Angstrom), far- […]
![Life 2.0 mission concept and simulated biosignature spectroscopy. The distributed array observes a common target with many one-meter telescope modules. The example spectra illustrate UV-optical atmospheric signatures and the simulated recovery of O₃, O₂, and H₂O after calibrated spectral co-addition. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Life-2.0.jpg?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Life 2.0: A Scalable Distributed Space-Telescope Array For Biosignature Spectroscopy
[astro-ph.IM] Answering the question “Are we alone?” requires atmospheric spectroscopy of nearby terrestrial planets. For an Earth–Sun analog, even the strongest transmission signals are expected to be of order 1 […]
![(a) The HWK4123 sensor has a standard ceramic land grid array (CGLA) package and measures 31.1 × 36.6 mm. The imaging pixel array is in the center of the sensor. (b) The PHOTRON system is shown outside the dewar. The HWK4123 mounts behind the black enclosure in the top-left corner. (c) The QUEST camera attaches to the output of an integrating sphere, and the sphere receives light from a monochromator. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Single-Photon.png?resize=1200%2C704&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Single-Photon Counting CMOS Detectors For The Habitable Worlds Observatory
[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is NASA’s current New Great Observatory concept. HWO will observe the universe to search for life beyond Earth. It will need unprecedented instrument stability […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
The Research Impact Of The Jodrell Bank Observatory And Other Facilities Affected By The UK Science Funding Cuts In 2025
[astro-ph.IM] The United Kingdom Research and Innovation body and the Science and Technology Facilities Council recently announced funding cuts to facilities at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, specifically the e-MERLIN network […]
![Top: Hexagonal segmented primary mirror designs with no central obscuration with different number of rings and varying segment sizes (flat-to-flat (m) 1-Hex: 2.64, 2-Hex: 1.45, 3-Hex: 1.19, 4-Hex: 0.85, 5-Hex: 0.66), all designs have an inscribed diameter of ∼6 m. Middle: Binary apodizer masks optimized for their respective aperture design. Bottom: Respective coronagraphic PSFs with an annular dark hole ranging from 3.4λ/D - 12λ/D, and a spatial average contrast floor of ∼4 × 10−11 inside the dark hole. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Segmentlevel.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Segment-level Thermal Sensitivity Analysis For Exo-Earth Coronagraphy With Segmented Space Telescopes
[astro-ph.IM] Direct imaging and characterization of Earth-like planets require ultra-stable wavefronts to achieve a starlight suppression level of 100 parts per trillion (ppt) in the coronagraphic dark region of the […]
![Simulated HARMONI images of the Galilean satellites (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) compared to current VLT imaging (50 mas), illustrating the gain in spatial resolution (12 mas) enabled by the ELT for surface characterisation of Solar System bodies. Credit : Olivier Groussin for the Solar System Science group. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/HARMONI.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
HARMONI@ELT: Instrument Design, Performance, And Science Capabilities
[astro-ph.IM] HARMONI is the integral field spectrograph for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Designed as the primary workhorse near-infrared spectrograph of the ELT, it will deliver spatially resolved spectroscopy at […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
ANDES, The High-resolution Spectrograph Oof The ELT: Simulated Performance Of The CORO Module And Overview Of The High-contrast Capabilities For Exoplanet Observations
[astro-ph.IM] We present the simulated performance of the coronagraph (CORO) module for ANDES, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) high-resolution spectrograph.
![Conservative CW mitigation demonstrated on a fully synthetic wideband radio dataset with realistic detector features. (a) Frequency spectrum before and after mitigation. Red shaded regions indicate the three cataloged anthropogenic CW tones at 137, 405, and 450 MHz (representing satellite downlinks, weather balloon telemetry, and South Pole station communications, respectively). These tones are removed via least-squares time-domain sine subtraction as described in the text. The orange dotted line marks an uncataloged narrowband feature at 285 MHz that is successfully preserved. (b) Time domain trace of the same waveform shown in panel (a), zoomed in to show the effect of mitigation around an injected nanosecond-scale broadband transient (dashed black line). The raw simulated trace before mitigation (light red line) is heavily obscured by CW interference. After subtraction of the cataloged tones, the mitigated trace (solid green line) shows significantly reduced coherent CW contamination, successfully recovering the underlying broadband impulsive signal and preserving both its original shape and temporal structure. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Methodological-Synergies.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
Methodological Synergies Between Technosignature And UHE Neutrino Searches
[astro-ph.IM] Radio technosignature searches and radio-based ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrino experiments address different scientific questions, but share a closely related data analysis problem: identifying rare signals of unknown morphology within […]
Posted inSETI & Technosignatures
A Dual-Burst Geometrical Prescription For Concurrent Signaling
[astro-ph.IM] We propose a dual-burst implementation of concurrent signaling for technosignature searches.