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Completed TRL 4 (started at 4, targeting 4)
In 2016, a Goddard research team led by Michael McElwain (Code 667) delivered the Prototype Imaging Spectrograph for Coronagraphic Exoplanet Studies (PISCES) to JPL for incorporation into the WFIRST/Roman Coronagraph project. PISCES has been dormant at JPL since 2018, when the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) channel of the Roman Coronagraph was descoped. We seek partial support for the construction of an East Coast iteration of PISCES. This laboratory IFS will serve technology demonstrations in the newly refurbished ExoSpec Lab in GSFC Building 34 and eventually at JPL's High Contrast Imaging Testbed facility.
One of the key science cases for the large IR/O/UV space telescope recommended by Astro2020 is to image and characterize rocky planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. An integral field spectrograph (IFS) is a key technology for enabling these observations.
Several technology maturation and risk-reduction activities have effectively been put on hold since the 2018 descope of the IFS from the Roman Space Telescope's Coronagraph Instrument. This project will kick-start progress in experiments to mature the spectroscopy technologies needed to characterize rocky, Earth-like exoplanets with a future UV/O/IR flagship.
An additional benefit is team training for flight instrument design and integration & testing. Since PISCES was delivered, the ExoSpec team has added several new civil servants and contractor participants, such as Neil Zimmerman (C667), Chris Stark (C667), Roser Juanola-Parramon (C667/UMBC), Tyler Groff (C551), Hari Subedi (C551), and Scott Will (C551). This extended team would benefit from participating in the prototype IFS alignment and testing.
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