ExoSpec project: an exoplanet spectroscopy technology research collaboration based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center

The exoplanet atmosphere characterization goals of future UV/Optical/Infrared flagship space missions will drive challenging design requirements for instrument wavefront controls, spatial and spectral sampling, spectral bandwidth, and detector performance. The new ExoSpec Project links four previously distinct research efforts at Goddard and Ames for enabling and enhancing the characterization of directly-imaged exoplanets. ExoSpec is comprised of three laboratory subsystem demonstrations: high-contrast integral field spectrographs, p-channel CCDs, and parabolic deformable mirrors. A fourth component, exoplanet spectral retrieval, is an iterative data simulation activity driven by the goal of optimizing the system-level instrument design for atmosphere retrieval metrics. The ExoSpec Project's emphasis on system-level spectroscopy performance complements the objectives of other technology demonstrations supported by NASA.