Paper 14145-3
Paper 14145-3
The Landolt mission
5 July 2026 • 09:40 - 10:00 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
The Landolt mission is NASA’s first dedicated on-orbit stellar calibration observatory, designed to establish SI-traceable photometric standards for ground- and space-based astronomy. Landolt uses a thermally stable payload "star", NIST-calibrated photodiodes, and an onboard reference light system to measure bright stellar standards above the atmosphere, improving on the dominant source of uncertainty in absolute flux calibration. The mission provides a new celestial flux ladder supporting cosmology, exoplanet transit measurements, and survey uniformity for facilities such as Rubin, Roman, Keck, and JWST. This presentation will describe the mission architecture, calibration chain, contamination-control design, payload development status, and the expected accuracy improvements, along with connections to recent hybrid optical-calibration demonstrations, including ORKID and the LCRD–ORCAS–Keck experiment. Will be presented on behalf of the Landolt Mission Team
Presenter
Eliad Peretz
NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)
Dr. Eliad Peretz is the Deputy Principal Investigator of NASA’s Landolt mission and the Deputy Project Scientist for TSIS-2, NASA’s benchmark solar irradiance observatory. His work focuses on precision photometric calibration, hybrid optical–communication mission architectures, and next-generation spaceflight metrology. Dr. Peretz led the ORKID hybrid mission demonstration and the LCRD–ORCAS–Keck optical calibration experiment, integrating space-based lasercom with ground-based precision astronomy. He has contributed to multiple mission and instrument concepts across astrophysics and heliophysics, emphasizing ultra-stable calibration sources, contamination-controlled payload design, and the development of SI-traceable standards that strengthen the calibration backbone for future observatories.