Telescope Spectrophotometric and Absolute Flux Calibration, and National Security Applications, Using a Tunable Laser on a Satellite

Abstract

We propose a tunable laser-based satellite-mounted spectrophotometric and absolute flux calibration system, to be utilized by ground- and space-based telescopes. As spectrophotometric calibration may play a significant role in the accuracy of photometric redshift measurement, and photometric redshift accuracy is important for measuring dark energy using SNIa, weak gravitational lensing, and baryon oscillations, a method for reducing such uncertainties is needed. We propose to improve spectrophotometric calibration, currently obtained using standard stars, by placing a tunable laser and a wide-angle light source on a satellite by early next decade (perhaps included in the upgrade to the GPS satellite network) to improve absolute flux calibration and relative spectrophotometric calibration across the visible and near-infrared spectrum. As well as fundamental astrophysical applications, the system proposed here potentially has broad utility for defense and national security applications such as ground target illumination and space communication.