Orbiting Configurable Artificial Star (ORCAS) for Visible Adaptive Optics from the Ground

Enabling Adaptive Optics (AO) for a variety of targets across the sky at visible wavelengths for a range of telescopes on the ground could transform many key areas in astronomy. As a result, a 30th magnitude star could be imaged within minutes and the surfaces of planets, satellites, and asteroids could be mapped without visiting them. Cameras and spectrographs would have pixel areas reduced by factors of 104 to 105, and the isoplanatic patch could be resolved into ~100 megapixels for a Nyquist-sampled camera. The Keck telescopes, GMT, TMT, and E-ELT could reach nearly diffraction limited angular resolution, achieving up to an order of magnitude better performance than the Hubble Space Telescope. The Orbiting Configurable Artificial Star (ORCAS) is a small-scale mission composed of four wavelength-configurable artificial star small satellites propelled by ion engines and controlled from a ground station. This mission would overcome some major challenges in order to enable visible band AO such as: 1) insufficient brightness; 2) the cone effect; and 3) Tip-Tilt correction limitation. The mission overview and applications to planetary science will be presented.