Abstract
The Habitable Worlds Observatory is a NASA mission concept in pre-Phase-A study, which will be capable of detecting and characterizing planets as small as Earth in the habitable zones of nearby stars. We have developed preliminary designs for a coronagraph instrument to fulfill this objective and are continuing the maturation of those designs along with the observatory concepts. Building on experience from decades of laboratory experiments and the recently completed technology demonstration coronagraph instrument on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, these designs include two or three complete coronagraph channels, enabling parallel operation on a single star in separate polarizations or wavelength ranges. The instrument relies on multiple nested control systems across the observatory and instrument, to stabilize wavefront error to a few picometers (10−12 m) and line of sight to less than 0.1 milliarcsecond (5×10−10 radian). The mission is intended to be ready for flight before the year 2040.