Next Generation Astronomy Missions
To carry out yearlong studies of new concepts for the future generation of major observatories, NASA has selected nineteen science teams. After completion of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, the studies will assist NASA in making decisions about how it will explore the heavens in the future. The National Academy of Sciences combine efforts with physicists and astronomers from across the country, every ten years, to define the future research directions for the fields of astronomy and astrophysics. The science teams work to ensure that technical and cost input is accurate for the future Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadel Survey.
Directions are provided by the survey to guide federal agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation in planning programs over the next ten years. “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. In the fiscal years, 2008 and 2009, the concept studies total about $12 million, ranging in cost from $250,000 to $1 million. Selected for further study as potential new space telescopes include 1) Study of organic molecules in interstellar space and star - forming clouds 2) Birth of stellar black holes in the early universe and a census of black holes in our galaxy. 3) 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. 4) Observation of faint signatures of polarized light in the cosmic microwave background that will also reveal information about inflation expansion. 5) Exploration of origins of cosmic rays.
The tenuous filaments of intergalactic hydrogen gas known as cosmic web gas will be explored by a powerful new combination of telescopes and instruments. Another mission will be the placement of two laser beacons on Mars. The most stringent test yet of Einstein’s theory of general relativity would be provided by precise measurements of the distance of these beacons. How to create the next generation of extremely precise and large optics for x-ray and optical astronomy will be studies sponsored by NASA. To map clouds of hydrogen gas that formed during the infancy of our universe, even before the first stars will be another study investigated. The results of the studies are expected in March 2009. Concepts that rank highly in the decadel survey may result in missions that would launch later. The Gamma-Ray Large Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in May, the Kepal mission in 2009 and the James Webb Space telescope in 2013.
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 am and is filed under Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
