Space Interferometry Mission (SIM)-Lite Status

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA

Abstract

The SIM-Lite mission has finished its technology programme and continues with an engineering risk reduction activity while waiting for the results of the 2010 decadal review. One of the last remaining activities is work on the SCDU testbed, which is designed to calibrate the spectral bias in interferometric astrometry to 0.1 microarcsec. This talk will provide a summary of engineering activities on building flight-like prototypes of the key interferometer subassemblies, as well as an overview of the types of problems one encounters when attempting to do astrometry below 1 microarcsec, as well as their solution.