Astrometric detection of rocky exoplanets from inexpensive space platforms

@misc{tuthill2026astrometric,
  title = {{Astrometric detection of rocky exoplanets from inexpensive space platforms}},
  author = {Peter G. Tuthill and George Ayad and Donald G. Dansereau and Thomas Holland and Connor J. Langford and Milo Langker and Kieran Larkin and Grace Piroscia and J. Gordon Robertson and Karel Valenta and Tim White and Asen Christov and Kyran Grattan and Sergey Karpov and Rico Landman and Pavel Ripka and Petr Schovánek and Jeffrey Smith and Frans Snik and Simon P. Worden and Ondřej Zelenka},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.30806},
  eprint = {2610.30806},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30806},
  note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Astrometric detection of rocky exoplanets from inexpensive space platforms
AU  - Peter G. Tuthill
AU  - George Ayad
AU  - Donald G. Dansereau
AU  - Thomas Holland
AU  - Connor J. Langford
AU  - Milo Langker
AU  - Kieran Larkin
AU  - Grace Piroscia
AU  - J. Gordon Robertson
AU  - Karel Valenta
AU  - Tim White
AU  - Asen Christov
AU  - Kyran Grattan
AU  - Sergey Karpov
AU  - Rico Landman
AU  - Pavel Ripka
AU  - Petr Schovánek
AU  - Jeffrey Smith
AU  - Frans Snik
AU  - Simon P. Worden
AU  - Ondřej Zelenka
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.30806
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30806
AB  - The detection of orbiting exoplanets by way of astrometric monitoring of the host star to reveal gravitationally induced reflex motion requires extreme precision and measurement stability when targeting Earth-mass objects. Despite this, astrometry is widely regarded as the most promising avenue for the most desired of all targets: true Earth analogue systems in the solar neighbourhood. Formerly thought to require flagship class investment, recently several smaller concepts such as the TOLIMAN and SHERA missions have shown that detections are possible, at least in principle, from more modest space platforms. A key enabling feature is that these missions exploit narrow-angle astrometry. Observing only multiple star systems where the target provides its own astrometric reference greatly alleviates the challenges confronted by traditional astrometry with its reliance on distant, faint field stars. This principle underlies the TOLIMAN mission, for which progress and status is reported. However, only a tiny handful of nearby star systems are suited to such a TOLIMAN-like architecture. This paper discusses speculative optical concepts featuring ultra-stable telescopes of modest (<0.5m) aperture designed for astrometric monitoring of isolated single stars at the micro-arcsecond scales required for the discovery of Earth mass objects orbiting sun-like stars in temperate orbits. In simulation, highly sought-after neighbourhood systems such as Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti can be exhaustively searched for rocky planets with dedicated observing campaigns spanning several years, all from relatively inexpensive orbital platforms.
ER  -