[FPSPACE] Yeah, but can it reliably find 75 meter dead comet fragmens?

[E.P. Grondine]

Feb. 15, 2008

Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0668
grey.hautaluoma-1 at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 08-054

NASA SPONSORS STUDIES OF NEXT GENERATION ASTRONOMY MISSIONS

WASHINGTON - 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. 

For more information on NASA and agency programs, visit: 



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