The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Coronagraph study involves exploring the technologies that enable a coronagraph-style instrument to image and characterize earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars. Test beds have been developed to demonstrate the emerging technologies needed for this effort and an architecture study has resulted in designs of a facility that will provide the environment needed for the technology to function in this role. A broad community of participants is involved in this work through studies, analyses, fabrication of components, and participation in the design effort. The scope of activities - both on the technology side and on the architecture study side - will be presented in this paper. The status and the future plans of the activities will be reviewed.
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Ford et al. (2004) studied this question.