Habitable Worlds Observatory's Concept and Technology Maturation: Initial Feasibility and Trade Space Exploration

TL;DR

The paper documents the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s initial concept maturation, detailing the iterative Architecture, Science, and Technology maturation workflow (CML/EAC) that drives trade-space exploration and end-to-end performance modeling. It presents a multi-thread Integrated Modeling pipeline, plans for high-fidelity tech demonstrations, and a structured technology maturation program organized into coronagraph, ultra-stable telescope, and UV/visible instrument tracks, all aimed at TRL5 by the Mission Concept Review. It also reports active community engagement (START/CSIT) that produced a broad set of science case studies across Living Worlds, Solar System, Galaxy Growth, and Elemental Evolution, informing instrument concepts and science objectives. The results show converging architecture toward a 6–8 m off-axis, segmented telescope with servicing capability, and outline a concrete plan to validate designs and maturation through testbeds (DST2R, EPIC5/6, USSL, Mini-MUST) ahead of the MCR, underscoring readiness for formal formulation.

Abstract

The Habitable Worlds Observatory is the first telescope ever designed to search for life and will be a powerhouse of discovery across topics in astrophysics. The observatory was the top recommendation of the Astro2020 Decadal Survey for large missions and a new HWO Technology Maturation Project Office was formed in August 2024 to mature the architecture, science and technology. In this paper we review the overall approach taken to mature the mission concept. We show progress on architecture development, integrated modeling, science cases, and technology roadmaps consistent with pre-formulation studies. We discuss plans for instrument studies and international engagement and science engagement including a Community Science and Instrument Team. Finally, we describe the plan forward to the Mission Concept Review.

Figures (22)

• Figure 1: The traditional NASA flight project requirements include a series of independent reviews and key decision points. The cml flow parallels in the NASA flight project flow but adds criteria for additional dimensions of concept development. The hwo phase reported herein represents NASA pre-formulation and covers cml 2-3, shaded purple on this timeline.
• Figure 2: The early jwst yardstick study was an early study that demonstrated the feasibility of the architecture. The jwst yardstick included general architecture elements that were included in the final jwst design. The hwo eac studies are even less mature than the jwst yardstick.
• Figure 3: The hwo project has explored the observatory trade space by carrying out iterative architectural designs, each called an Exploratory Analytic Case (EAC). Each design is evaluated for science performance and technical feasibility, providing important insights for future iterations. This report includes material developed through cml 3.
• Figure 4: The launch vehicles under consideration for hwo have considerably more mass and volume capabilities compared to the previous generation. Relative-scale images of the Arianespace Ariane 5, which launched jwst, next to the NASA sls, Blue Origin New Glenn, and SpaceX Starship.
• Figure 5: The eac-1 (top row), eac-2 (middle row), and eac-3 (bottom row) designs shown to relative scale. The left column shows the stowed, launch configuration for each architecture and its fit inside the representative Starship fairing. The middle column is looking down the telescope boresight, and the right column shows the top-down view. A series of well-established deployments are used to transform between the stowed and operational configurations.