Analytic relations assessing the impact of precursor knowledge and key mission parameters on direct imaging survey yield

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2401.02039
• Publication Date: 2024-01-01
• Authors: Peter Plavchan; John Berberian; Stephen R. Kane; Rhonda Morgan; Eliad Peretz; Sophia Economon
• Keywords: Planetary habitability

The Habitable Worlds Observatory will attempt to image Earth-sized planets in Zone orbits around nearby Sun-like stars. In this work we explore approximate analytic yield calculations for a future flagship direct imaging mission survey sample of uniformly distributed set identical We consider the dependence exoplanet detection on factors such as eta_Earth, telescope diameter, total on-sky time, orbital phase and separation, inner working angle, flux contrast, desired signal-to-noise ratio, spectral resolution, other factors. impact efficiency absence with precursor knowledge Earth-size analog exoplanets. particular, assume at time observation can be optimized so only when it is outside angle. find that missions inner-working angle limited estimated yields, not impacted by given our assumptions presented herein. However, enhanced knowledge. benchmark approximations against detailed simulations coronagraphs starshades carried out HabEx LUVOIR concept studies, consistent conclusions. Our relations thus provide quick estimates derivatives key parameter choices exo-Earth considering design trades supplement existing computational simulations.