CDF Study Report for WFI - A Wide Field Imager for Supernovae Surveys and Dark Energy Characterisation
Publication date: 16 October 2006
Authors: SCI-AM
Page: 1-228
Year: 2006
Copyright: ESA
CDF Study Report: CDF-46(A)
The ESA Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) was requested and financed by ESA/ESTEC/SCIAM to carry out a feasibility study for an optical-near-infrared wide field imager (WFI). Such a mission would search for Type Ia supernovae over a given redshift range with optical and near infrared wavelength coverage. The overall aim of the mission would be to use supernova observations to model the changing rate of expansion of the universe and to determine the contributions of decelerating and accelerating energies such as the mass density and dark energy density. This model could be constructed using a Hubble diagram (redshift vs. magnitude) populated with supernovae measurements. This study is the first step in the feasibility assessment of a technology reference mission and a follow-on phase-A industrial study is foreseen for the payload, where most of the technology development is needed.
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