Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (2023) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 367-391
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underfunded and that must be provided by the proposing institutions. The panel suggests that NASA implement a new program of concept maturation studies (CMSs)
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From page 368... ...
The reduction in emphasis on technical, management, and cost maturity would properly put the focus on science, diversity, and technical innovation, allowing institutions with fewer resources to compete effectively in the formal AO process. The panel suggests 5–10 fully funded studies, each funded at the $1 million to $2 million level.
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community not only in their own right but also as mid-scale forerunners of the Vera Rubin Observatory. • The EHT's image of the supermassive black hole at the center of M87 has provided important insights into space-time in the strong gravity regime, the extreme conditions in accreting plasma, and has captured the imagination of the public across the world.
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From page 370... ...
This could potentially limit mid-scale projects in AST, especially given an apparent internal NSF culture to homogenize total award funding across all divisions. Continuation of a healthy AST-only MSIP program would be very wise if the astronomical sciences community envisions many exciting projects with budgets in the mid-scale range in the coming decade.
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There are more worthwhile projects proposed to the AST MSIP program than can be funded at the current budget levels. The panel suggests enhancing the support of a mid-scale program funded entirely within Astronomical Sciences.
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must embrace a pathways model to workforce development. Because entry into the STEM workforce is not always via a linear high school–university–workforce path, the U.S.
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The panel is charged with surveying the ability of these current near-term activities, as well as assessing the capabilities of proposed activities, to address the compelling science challenges identified by the science panels convened as part of the decadal survey. The panel is also charged with reviewing the white papers pertinent to the UV/O/IR activities in space.
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Other science areas will benefit from proposed missions that are aimed primarily at searching for life, but which provide a compelling suite of capabilities that can address other questions. Astronomy has made rapid progress when panchromatic data are available, and for this panel, of particular importance are the UV spectroscopic capabilities, which will surpass those available on HST, and which will address many issues identified by the science panels such as observing the circumgalactic medium (CGM)
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Collectively, these probe missions present a suite of capabilities that would address a number of the science questions identified by the science panels. While probes cannot fulfill all of the observational needs from space for astrophysics, they could provide very valuable data, such as multi-wavelength observations for time-critical observations that will be difficult to provide from flagships only.
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Resources to subject missions to the TRACE process were limited, so the panel chose to focus primarily on LUVOIR-B and on two versions of HabEx, 4H and 3.2S, as a balance between cost and exploring a range of implementation options. Some of the probe missions received some limited study funding from NASA, while others were submitted to the decadal survey solely as white papers.
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JWST will provide significantly improved infrared angular resolution (0.031 arcsec at 2 µm) and sensitivity over HST and the now retired Spitzer.
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The objective of the Euclid mission is to better understand dark energy and dark matter by accurately measuring the acceleration of the universe using gravitational lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, and measurement of galactic distances by spectroscopy. Euclid will measure the shapes of galaxies at varying distances and investigate the relationship between distance and redshift out to z ~2.
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Egerman, 2019, "HabEx Primary Mirror: ULTRA Segment Stability for Space Telescope Coronagraphy," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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I.1.5 Science Panel Inputs A crucial component in guiding the formulation of a program for the future is the identification of the most compelling science questions to be addressed in the next decade. The high-priority questions and discovery areas identified by the science panels and corresponding observational capabilities have been mapped to the capabilities proposed for the flagship missions under this panel's purview.
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E-DA LUMOS, HDI SSI, UVS SSI, UVS Interstellar Medium and Star and Planet Formation (see Appendix F) F-DA LUMOS, HDI HWC HWC Stars, the Sun, and Stellar Populations (see Appendix G)
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Data from JWST will no doubt completely revolutionize this field.13,14,15 The Panel on Galaxies has indicated that wide-field and very wide field spectroscopy at 0.32 to 5 µm will be essential for addressing questions such as measuring the characteristics of the first stars, galaxies, and black holes. This wavelength regime is also important for taking a census of supermassive black hole (SMBH)
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category was the most difficult challenge presented to the panel, because all of the options under consideration proved to be significantly higher cost than even the most optimistic NASA budget can accommodate, particularly if a probe line is to be included in future budgets. The TRACE analyses revealed that the mission costs were likely underestimated by their project teams by nearly 50 percent, largely owing to a combination of TRACE including monetized risks and longer development times that would be driven by budgetary constraints.
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Bolcar, and J Hylan, 2019, "Funding Strategy Impacts and Alternative Funding Approaches for NASA's Future Flagship Mission Developments," white paper submitted to Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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I.3 FLAGSHIPS Flagships provide capabilities that cannot be achieved at smaller scales, with sensitivity and angular resolution typically being the drivers for large telescopes. Flagships include a range of instrumentation, whereas the requirements are set by the most scientifically compelling goals.
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The size of the primary mirror sets the angular resolution and the sensitivity achievable. The angular resolution scales Field-of-regard: Sun-Telescope-Target angles with the > 45 degrees diameter D, and(3the 3 steradians)
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FIGURE I.2 The expected Fig number of exoearth 10 The exoEarth candidates candidate assuming yield landscape for futurea direct of hEarth valueimaging = 0.24. coronagraph- and starshade-based space telescopes, assuming 2 years of telescope time.
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(C. Stark et al., 2019, "ExoEarth yield landscape for future direct imaging space telescopes," JATIS..5b4009S.)
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Because TRACE funding was limited, the panel asked the Aerospace Corporation to perform a TRACE analysis on only LUVOIR-B because LUVOIR-A seemed infeasible to complete during the next two decades without an unprecedented increase in the Astrophysics budget as judged from the team's report. Table I.6 summarizes the team and TRACE cost estimates for the three missions considered in detail by the panel.
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Given the outstanding science discoveries that these exoplanet missions can accomplish but only with critical technologies that need to reach TRL 6 or above in the next 5 years, the panel suggests that NASA fund the technology tasks outlined in the LUVOIR and HabEx reports and do so over the next 5-year period, which would then flow into detailed mission architecture studies that could be completed before the next decadal survey. A key decision is the size of the primary mirror, and whether
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, they do have a number of technology areas in common. The panel suggests that all 2020 decadal study high-risk technologies for these missions be reviewed for overlap such that a single technology roadmap can be described, costed, and scheduled with Figure 11-3 from the LUVOIR report illustrating at a top level what such a plan might look like.
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