NASA has selected 19
science teams to conduct yearlong studies of new concepts for its next
generation of major observatories. The studies will help NASA make
decisions about how it explores the heavens in the future, following the
Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
Every 10 years, astronomers and physicists from across the U.S. work
with the National Academy of Sciences to define the future research
directions for the fields of astronomy and astrophysics. The science teams'
work is part of an effort to ensure that technical and cost input is
accurate for this upcoming Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. The
survey produces directions that guide federal agencies such as NASA and the
National Science Foundation in planning their programs over the coming
decade.
"Astrophysics is truly in a golden age, revolutionizing our knowledge
of topics as diverse and compelling as the origin and evolution of the
universe, the physics of black holes and the distribution and habitability
of planetary systems across our galaxy," said Alan Stern, associate
administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters,
Washington. "The exciting new astrophysics mission concept studies we are
funding will seed preparations for astronomical space missions and
paradigm-shifting discoveries across the early 21st century. Today, NASA's
Science Mission Directorate is setting sail on a whole new chapter in
continued U.S. leadership in astrophysics."
The concept studies total approximately $12 million in fiscal years
2008 and 2009, ranging in cost from $250,000 to $1 million. Among the ideas
selected for further study as potential new space telescopes are:
- A study of the organic molecules in interstellar space and
star-forming clouds (Scott Sandford, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett
Field, Calif.);
- A census of black holes in our galaxy and distant galaxies and of
the birth of stellar black holes in the early universe (Jonathan Grindlay,
Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.);
- A test of theories that predict a rapid inflationary expansion when
the universe was less than a fraction of a second old by characterizing the
distribution of distant galaxies (Gary Melnick, Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory, Cambridge);
- Observations of faint signatures of polarized light in the cosmic
microwave background that will also reveal information about inflationary
expansion (Stephan Meyer, University of Chicago);
- Exploration of the origins of cosmic rays (James Adams, NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.).
Several different methods to search for and characterize exoplanets,
planets that orbit a star outside our solar system, also were chosen. Among
these approaches are:
- Precise mapping of the movements of stars induced by planets
circling them (Geoffrey Marcy, University of California, Berkeley);
- Direct imaging of giant planets around nearby stars (Mark Clampin,
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Olivier Guyon,
University of Arizona; Tuscon; John Trauger and Michael Shao, Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.);
- Imaging nearby Earth-sized worlds using large telescopes with
multiple instruments and separate spacecraft to block the light from these
exoplanets' host star (Webster Cash, University of Colorado, Boulder; David
Spergel, Princeton University, N.J.).
Some of the proposals explore a powerful new combination of telescopes
and instruments optimized for observing the tenuous filaments of
intergalactic hydrogen gas known as the cosmic web gas (Kenneth Sembach,
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore) or star formation in our own
and distant galaxies (Paul Scowen, Arizona State University, Tempe).
Another mission would place two laser beacons on Mars. Precise
measurements of the distance to these beacons would provide the most
stringent test yet of Einstein's theory of general relativity (Thomas
Murphy, University of California, San Diego).
NASA also will sponsor studies about how to create the next generation
of extremely precise and large optics for X-ray and optical astronomy
(Roger Brissenden; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; Marc Postman,
Space Telescope Science Institute). Another study investigates the
possibility of putting an extremely large array of radio telescopes on the
lunar surface to map clouds of hydrogen gas that formed during the infancy
of our universe, even before the first stars (Jacqueline Hewitt, MIT;
Cambridge; Joseph Lazio, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington).
"The number, range, and quality of the proposals submitted indicate
very powerfully the level of enthusiasm in the community for addressing
frontier astrophysics research and employing the very latest technologies,"
said Jon Morse, division director for Astrophysics, NASA Headquarters.
"This early investment directed toward the decadal study will pay off in
the coming years."
The studies' results are expected in March 2009. Concepts that rank
highly in the decadal survey may result in missions that would launch after
the suite of missions in development such as the Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope, scheduled to launch in May, the Kepler mission, scheduled to
launch in 2009, and the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in
2013.
Source: NASA
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