Exoplanet Starshade Testbed Definition

External starshades are deployable structures in space flown in formation with a space telescope that cast a shadow to suppress starlight and allow imaging of dim, rocky exoplanets. Because of the dimensions involved including a separation ~tens of thousands of kilometers between the ~40-m diameter starshade and the telescope, a starshade cannot be fully tested on the ground. Scaled starshades must be tested in a controlled environment to verify the validity of the optical models; these validated models can then be applied on full-scale measurements. This effort will design and identify an appropriate site at ARC to accommodate, an 80-to-300 meter long, ~1 meter diameter, exoplanet mission starshade technology development “light-tube” (testbed) at NASA Ames. This light-tube would provide high-quality experimental data in a stable, controlled environment of optical diffraction from optimized starshade edges. Currently, starshade designs have been proposed for a variety of missions including HabEx, the WFIRST rendezvous probe, and the Ames-Stanford mDOT. A number of smaller-scale starshade testbeds have been built that have increased the TRL level of starshade optical models to TRL 5 but have operated in fixed regimes. However, existing testbeds have been limited by their total propagation size as the scaling of the starshade feature size is strongly dependent on the total propagation distance available in the light-tube. As a result, a light-tube facility extending out to 300-m would enable TRL 6 level demonstrations. ARC has space and potentially, an existing enclosed structure. Current state of the art consists of a series of smaller-scale experiments originally at Northrop Grumman and more recently at Princeton University. Other experiments conducted instead in the field have longer propagation distances up to ~1km but encountered difficulties in achieving deep suppression factors due to the open environment. This proposed large test facility would combine innovations introduced from small-scale experiments with a controlled environment and a long-propagation distance, and would directly support NASA’s future exoplanet direct detection missions (such as HabEx that will employ starshades, allow evaluations of analytical designs facilitating key starshade configuration trade studies, grow the exoplanet team’s scope and areas of research at NASA ARC, and add resources to develop, build and operate a new and innovative test facility at NASA ARC.

This one-of-a-kind testbed will have no equivalent capability in the world. Current state of the art consists of a series of smaller-scale experiments (Northrop Grumman and Princeton University). Other experiments conducted in the field encountered difficulties in achieving deep suppression factors due to the open environment.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.