Analytical model for starshade formation flying with applications to exoplanet direct imaging observation scheduling

Abstract

We present an analytical model for the desired kinematics of the starshade-telescope relative motion during exoplanet direct imaging observations. We combine this model with an existing deadbanding strategy published by the NASA JPL S5 Team to define a dynamics framework for deadbanding simulations. Global results of these simulations show that the fuel usage and the number of observation interruptions vary as a function of the target star ecliptic coordinates and time, meaning there exist optimal times to observe particular targets. We combine these results with the telescope pointing constraints due to the relative position of the Sun and other bright solar system objects. We show that optimally scheduling an observation could result in up to 30 more min of integration time and 26 fewer interruptions per observation, improvements of almost 300% in some cases. We also show how phasing the start time of the telescope on its halo orbit is paramount for ensuring optimal observations, providing up to 68 additional min and 31 fewer interruptions per observation. Choosing an optimal halo phasing can also increase, for some near-ecliptic target stars, the fraction of a year that the target is observable from a few percent to more than 30%.