The exo-zodiacal disk mapper: A space interferometer to detect and map zodiacal dust disks around nearby stars

We present a concept for a space mission designed to make a mid-IR survey o f potential zodiacal dust disks around nearby stars. We show that a two-ape rture (0.6 m diameter), 10-m baseline, nulling interferometer located in a 1 x 4 AU, 4-yr solar orbit would allow for the survey of 400 stars in the s olar neighborhood and permit a first-order determination of the disk inclin ation and radial dependences of density and temperature. The high dynamic r ange of the instrument may also be used to study additional astrophysical p henomena. Beyond its own scientific merit, such a mission would serve as a technological precursor to a larger interferometer of the type being consid ered for the detection of earth-like planets.