nro telescopes david spergel. history 2 2.4 meter telescopes + 1 2.4 meter mirror “residual space...

NRO TelescopesDavid Spergel

History

•2 2.4 meter telescopes + 1 2.4 meter mirror

• “Residual space hardware” from Future Imagery Architecture, failed program cancelled in 2005

•Been in storage ~10 years

•NASA HQ learned of their availability about 18 months ago.

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Looking forward: Astronomy in 2020

• LSST is about to succeed DES and HSC

• Three 20-40 meter class telescopes are close to first light

• LIGO is regularly detected neutron star mergers

• JWST, EVLA and ALMA are now successful “workhorse instruments”

• HST is near its “end of life”

• Euclid is scheduled for launch

Looking backward: Key Results of the

Last Decade•96% of the universe is in the form of dark matter and dark energy

•Extrasolar planets are ubiquitous and show a remarkable diversity of properties

•Significant progress in understanding planet, star and galaxy formation but many gaps in our understanding

NWNH and WFIRST• NWNH recognized that the development of large

format IR detectors enabled a new class of mission that could address several science goals simultaneously:

• dark energy

• “equally important outcome will be to open an new frontier of exoplanet studies...This census, combined with that made by the Kepler mission will determine how common Earth-like planets are over a wide range of parameters”

• “WFIRST will survey large areas of sky to address a broad rage of Astro2010 science questions ranging from understanding the assembly of galaxies to the structure of the Milky Way.”

• “GI program”

• WFIrst will also ffer a GI program

WFIRST STDT Report

•Two mission concepts:

•DRM1: 1.3 m off-axis telescope with 0.375 sq deg fov launched on an Atlas V with a 5 year mission and a cost of 1.6 B

•DRM2: 1.1 m off-axis telescope with 0.585 sq deg fov launched on a Falcon 9 with a 3 year mission at a cost of slightly less than 1 B.

Political Context•Between JWST and the core program,

NASA astronomy budget has almost no “free energy” over the next 5 years. More broadly, NASA’s science budget is not able to match our ambitions for Mars and other important goals.

•National politics: 2012 election will likely lead to changes regardless of outcome. Taxamagedon lurks at the end of the year!

Questions• NRO telescope at WFIRST: Faster? Better? Cheaper?

• What can we do without modifying the telescope?

• Funding possibilities?

• What are the costs and benefits of a coronagraph (or occulter)? Can this be a precursor for TPF?

• What are potential uses of the second telescope? What steps should be taken in this decade to use this in the next decade? Should we use it?

• GOAL: To have a public meeting to start community discussion and inform the upcoming STDT

More immediate questions

•Coffee?

•Bathrooms?

•Lunch? Dinner?

•Wifi: puvisitor

Thanks to Keren, Mindy and Susan for organizational

work!