Keri Hoadley

The SLICE, CHESS, and SISTINE Ultraviolet Spectrographs: Rocket-Borne Instrumentation Supporting Future Astrophysics Missions

NASAs suborbital program provides an opportunity to conduct unique science experiments above Earths atmosphere and is a pipeline for the technology and personnel essential to future space astrophysics, heliophysics, and atmospheric science missions. In this paper, we describe three astronomy payloads developed (or in development) by the Ultraviolet Rocket Group at the University of Colorado. These far-ultraviolet (100 - 160 nm) spectrographic instruments are used to study a range of scientific topics, from gas in the interstellar medium (accessing diagnostics of material spanning five orders of magnitude in temperature in a single observation) to the energetic radiation environment of nearby exoplanetary systems. The three instruments, SLICE, CHESS, and SISTINE form a progression of instrument designs and component-level technology maturation. SLICE is a pathfinder instrument for the development of new data handling, storage, and telemetry techniques. CHESS and SISTINE are testbeds for technology and instrument design enabling high-resolution (R > 100,000) point source spectroscopy and high throughput imaging spectroscopy, respectively, in support of future Explorer, Probe, and Flagship-class missions. The CHESS and SISTINE payloads support the development and flight testing of large-format photon-counting detectors and advanced optical coatings: NASAs top two technology priorities for enabling a future flagship observatory (e.g., the LUVOIR Surveyor concept) that offers factors of roughly 50 - 100 gain in ultraviolet spectroscopy capability over the Hubble Space Telescope. We present the design, component level laboratory characterization, and flight results for these instruments.

THE EVOLUTION OF INNER DISK GAS IN TRANSITION DISKS

Investigating the molecular gas in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks provides insight into how the molecular disk environment changes during the transition from primordial to debris disk systems. We conduct a small survey of molecular hydrogen (H

The assembly, calibration, and preliminary results from the Colorado high-resolution Echelle stellar spectrograph (CHESS)

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New UV instrumentation enabled by enhanced broadband reflectivity lithium fluoride coatings

) fluorescent emission, using 14 well-studied Classical T Tauri stars at two distinct dust disk evolutionary stages, to explore how the structure of the inner molecular disk changes as the optically thick warm dust dissipates. We simulate the observed HI-Lyman

Flight performance and first results from the sub-orbital local interstellar cloud experiment (SLICE)

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The opto-mechanical design of the sub-orbital local interstellar cloud experiment (SLICE)

-pumped H

The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE): a dedicated cubesat mission for the study of exoplanetary mass loss and magnetic fields

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Signatures of Hot Molecular Hydrogen Absorption from Protoplanetary Disks. I. Non-thermal Populations

disk fluorescence by creating a 2D radiative transfer model that describes the radial distributions of H

CHISL: the combined high-resolution and imaging spectrograph for the LUVOIR surveyor

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The Orion Fingers: H_2 Temperatures and Excitation in an Explosive Outflow

emission in the disk atmosphere and compare these to observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. We find the radial distributions that best describe the observed H