Early architecture concepts for the Habitable Worlds Observatory system design, modeling, and analysis

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Abstract
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), NASA’s next flagship science mission, follows in the tradition of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) and other preceding great observatories. HWO will directly image and characterize Earth-like exoplanets and their atmospheres, with the capability to detect biosignatures and potentially answer the question “are we alone?” HWO will also serve as a powerful general astrophysics observatory, enabling breakthroughs in galaxy evolution, stellar astrophysics, and dark matter studies. Currently in preformulation, the project has established Exploratory Analytic Cases (EACs), a series of architectural concept designs used to assess the mission’s demanding science objectives while exploring challenging engineering parameters. We describe the first three EACs, starting with observing strategies and error budget formulation and then progressing to design formulations, trade studies, and lessons learned; we also discuss the integrated modeling pipeline, a key multidisciplinary system-level analysis capability, and analysis findings as applied to the first EAC. These activities set the stage for the follow-on EACs 4 and 5, which will further explore the trade space and prepare for the baseline design that will support the Mission Concept Review (MCR).
Funding Information
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004)