Outrigger telescopes for narrow-angle astrometry

The NASA Outrigger Telescope Project is a ground-based component of NASA's Navigator Program. The proposed project would utilize four to six 1.8-meter telescopes with co-rotating domes configured as an interferometer. One of the project's scientific goals is the detection of exoplanets, which would be accomplished with long baseline narrow-angle astrometry. This astrometry mode would be able to detect Uranus mass planets up to 60 light years away. The requirements of narrow-angle astrometry, both technically and operationally, levy requirements on the telescopes and enclosures, including, for example, wavefront quality, pivot stability, and slew speed. This paper will describe these requirements and how they were achieved in the design. It will also discuss the testing and verification of these requirements. Actual telescope performance as tested at EOS Technologies is presented elsewhere in these proceedings(1).