The Event Horizon Explorer mission concept
Peter Kurczynski, Michael D. Johnson, Sheperd S. Doeleman, Kari Haworth, Eliad Peretz, T. K. Sridharan, Byran Bilyeu, Lindy Blackburn, Don M. Boroson, A. L. Brosius, Richard Butler, Dave Caplan, Koushik Chatterjee, Peter Cheimets, Daniel J. D’Orazio, Thomas Essinger-Hileman, Peter Galison, Ronald C. Gamble, Shahar Hadar, Tiffany Hoerbelt, Hua Jiao, Jens Kauffmann, Robert Lafon, Chung‐Pei Ma, Gary J. Melnick, Nathan R. Newbury, Scott C. Noble, Daniel C. M. Palumbo, Lenny Paritsky, Dominic W. Pesce, Leonid Petrov, Jeff Piepmeier, Christopher J. Roberts, Bryon Robinson, Curt Shieler, Jeffrey Small, Neal W. Spellmeyer, Paul Tiede, Jaye Verniero, Jade Wang, Maciek Wielgus, Edward J. Wollack, George N. Wong, Guangning Yang
Abstract
The Event Horizon Explorer (EHE) is a mission concept to extend the Event Horizon Telescope via an additional space-based node. We provide highlights and overview of a concept study to explore the feasibility of such a mission. We present science goals and objectives, which include studying the immediate environment around supermassive black holes, and focus on critical enabling technologies and engineering challenges. We provide an assessment of their technological readiness and overall suitability for a NASA Medium Explorer (MIDEX) class mission.