Paper 14145-261
Paper 14145-261
Capabilities for the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s high-resolution imager
8 July 2026 • 17:30 - 19:00 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
The HWO Technology Maturation Project Office (HTMPO) recently released a call for US-led studies for instruments for transformative astrophysics, including a NUV/Optical/NIR high spatial resolution imager (HRI). HRI could have many potential modes, including astrometry, imaging, and low-resolution spectroscopy, while also fulfilling the guiding and some wavefront sensing modes for the entire observatory. The proposed HRI concepts are meant to be responsive to a wide range of astrophysics science cases detailed by the community. The call for instrument studies defines bounding conditions for mass, power, and volume, as well as information about the optical, thermal, and mechanical interfaces for EACs 4 and 5. The HRI Coordination Group developed these bounding conditions while incorporating science and engineering feedback, which we include in this presentation. NASA supports collaborative efforts for instrument studies, both internal to the US and abroad.
Presenter
NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)
Breann Sitarski is the Deputy Principal Architect, GSFC Testbeds Lead, and Optical Systems Engineer for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Breann’s research interests are in precision metrology, optical alignment and testing, wavefront sensing and control for large telescopes, star formation, and astrometry. She earned her Ph.D. in Astrophysics at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of Professors Andrea Ghez and Michael Fitzgerald in 2016. She was previously the Deputy Project Systems Engineer, Optical Systems Scientist, and Alignment lead at the Giant Magellan Telescope.