The Black Hole Explorer: Astophysics Mission Concept Engineering Study Report

Published

June 21, 2024

Author(s)

Eliad Peretz, Peter Kurczynski, Michael D. Johnson, Janice Houston, Tirupati Kumara Sridharan, Jade Wang, Peter Galison, Ronald Gamble, Daniel P. Marrone, Scott Noble, Gary Melnick, Leonid Petrov, Hannah Rana, Kari Haworth, Sheperd S. Doeleman, Sara Issaoun, Shahar Hadar, Alexandru Lupsasca, Edward Tong, Kazunori Akiyama, Ranjani Srinivasan, Don Boroson, Guangning Yang, Tiffany Hoerbelt, Jeffrey Small, Mareki Honma, Bryan Bilyeu, Ed Canavan, Katia Shtyrkova, Robert Lafon, Lenny Paritsky, Laura Sinclair, Mark Silver, Leonid Gurvits, Yuri Kovalev, Robert Lehmensiek, Hua Jiao, Lindy Blackburn, Alexandra Brosius, Rick Butler, Andrew Chael, Dominic Chang, Koushik Chatterjee, Peter Cheimets, Daniel D'Orazio, Thomas Essinger-Hileman, Vincent Fish, Garret Fitzpatrick, Charles Gammie, Zachary Gelles, Michael H. Hecht, Jens Kauffmann, Jared Lucey, Chung-Pei Ma, Mark Matsumura, Daniel Palumbo, Dominic Pesce, Jeff Piepmeier, Christopher J. Roberts, Freek Roelofs, Paul Tiede, Jaye Verniero, Maciek Wielgus, Ed Wollack, George N. Wong, Kelsey Gilchrist, Kayla Carmical, Andrew Lewis, Maya Wertheim, Keshet Shavit

Abstract

The Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) mission will enable the study of the fine photon ring structure, aiming to reveal the clear universal signatures of multiple photon orbits and true tests of general relativity, while also giving astronomers access to a much greater population of black hole shadows. Spacecraft orbits can sample interferometric Fourier spacings that are inaccessible from the ground, providing unparalleled angular resolution for the most detailed spatial studies of accretion and photon orbits and better time resolution. The BHEX mission concept provides space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at submillimeter wavelengths measurements to study black holes in coordination with the Event Horizon Telescope and other radio telescopes. This report presents the BHEX engineering goals, objectives and TRL analysis for a selection of the BHEX subsystems. This work aims to lay some of the groundwork for a near-term Explorers class mission proposal.

Conference Dates

June 16-21, 2024

Conference Location

Yokohama, JP

Conference Title

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

very long baseline interferometry, VLBI

Citation

Peretz, E. , Kurczynski, P. , Johnson, M. , Houston, J. , Sridharan, T. , Wang, J. , Galison, P. , Gamble, R. , Marrone, D. , Noble, S. , Melnick, G. , Petrov, L. , Rana, H. , Haworth, K. , Doeleman, S. , Issaoun, S. , Hadar, S. , Lupsasca, A. , Tong, E. , Akiyama, K. , Srinivasan, R. , Boroson, D. , Yang, G. , Hoerbelt, T. , Small, J. , Honma, M. , Bilyeu, B. , Canavan, E. , Shtyrkova, K. , Lafon, R. , Paritsky, L. , Sinclair, L. , Silver, M. , Gurvits, L. , Kovalev, Y. , Lehmensiek, R. , Jiao, H. , Blackburn, L. , Brosius, A. , Butler, R. , Chael, A. , Chang, D. , Chatterjee, K. , Cheimets, P. , D'Orazio, D. , Essinger-Hileman, T. , Fish, V. , Fitzpatrick, G. , Gammie, C. , Gelles, Z. , Hecht, M. , Kauffmann, J. , Lucey, J. , Ma, C. , Matsumura, M. , Palumbo, D. , Pesce, D. , Piepmeier, J. , Roberts, C. , Roelofs, F. , Tiede, P. , Verniero, J. , Wielgus, M. , Wollack, E. , Wong, G. , Gilchrist, K. , Carmical, K. , Lewis, A. , Wertheim, M. and Shavit, K. (2024), The Black Hole Explorer: Astophysics Mission Concept Engineering Study Report, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024, Yokohama, JP (Accessed October 9, 2025)