PEGASE... towards DARWIN

Abstract

The space mission PEGASE, proposed to CNES in the framework of its call for scientific proposals on "formation flying", is a 2-aperture interferometer, composed by 3 free flying satellites. With an angular resolution of a few mas and a spectral resolution of several tens in the spectral range 2.5-5 mum, PEGASE has several goals: - science: spectroscopy of hot jupiters (Pegasides) and brown dwarves, exploration of the inner part of protoplanetary disks; - technology: validation in real space conditions of formation flying, nulling and visibility interferometry concepts. PEGASE, presently in 0-phase study takes place in the context of DARWIN preparation. We detail in this paper the present situation of this projec