Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium (2001) / Chapter Skim
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1. Recommendations
1. Recommendations
Pages 17-50
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l Recommen~abons
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How are black holes formed? How do stars and planets form, and how do planets evolve to create habitats suitable for life?
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· Discovery of theoretically predicted tiny fluctuations in the background radiation left over from the Big Bang on scales from 100 million to 10 billion light-years, the seeds of subsequent structure formation. · Measurement of the expansion rate of the universe to an accuracy approaching 10 percent and determination that there is not enough matter to stop the expansion of the universe.
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Through the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, the NSF has contributed to two new 4-m-class telescopes, providing powerful new tools for astronomical investigations. Studies of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the top priority of the Task Group on Space Astronomy and Astrophysics (NRC, 1997)
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extrasolar planets, (3) laboratory astrophysics, and (4)
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PURPOSE AND CONTENT OF THE TWO VOLUMES This astronomy and astrophysics survey includes the report of the survey committee (this volume) plus a separate volume, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium: Panel Reports (NRC, 2001)
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In exchange, the nation deserves the maximum scientific return for this investment and widespread dissemination of the results. The astronomy and astrophysics enterprise depends on highly trained and motivated people, on technologically sophisticated facilities and missions, and on institutions properly equipped to manage them.
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, the committee stresses the importance of studying the cosmic microwave background with the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) mission, the European Planck Surveyor mission, and ground-based and balloon programs.
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Funds for operations, instrumentation, and facility grants for a period of 5 years are included in the committee's cost estimates for most ground-based initiatives (see the section below, "Proposed Priorities for Ground- and Space-Based Initiatives"~. · Adequate funding for unrestricted grants that provide broad support for research, students, and postdoctoral associates is required to ensure the future vitality of the field; therefore new initiatives should not be undertaken at the expense of the unrestricted grants program.
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Several of the committee's recommendations should help to build the partnership between federal and independent observatories in both radio astronomy (the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and the Square Kilometer Array technology development) and optical and infrared astronomy (the Telescope System Instrumentation Program)
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· As part of the effort to develop effective systems of telescope facilities, universities and independent observatories should work with the national organizations to develop coherent strategic plans for each system (optical, solar, and radio) and to develop those facilities that are too large or expensive to fit within the resources of a single institution or consortium.
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, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) , the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
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The committee believes that broadly based theoretical research not tied to specific missions is also vital to astrophysics, and it should continue to be supported by the unrestricted grants program at the NSF and by the Astrophysics Theory Program at NASA. Indeed, one of the committee's recommended small initiatives is to augment the NASA Astrophysics Theory Program.
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The Hubble Space Telescope (FIST) , the Gemini Telescope Project, and ALMA are all critically dependent on international collaboration, as is very long baseline interferometry, which by necessity is carried out using radio telescopes around the world.
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International collaboration plays a crucial role in a number of the programs recommended by this committee, including the Next Generation Space Telescope, the Expanded Very Large Array, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, the Advanced Solar Telescope, and the Square Kilometer Array technology development. International participation in the 30-m-class Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT)
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At present there is a vast gap in our knowledge of the evolution of the universe between the time at which the cosmic background radiation was produced, about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, and the time at which the most distant known galaxies emitted the light we see today, about a billion years later. This span of time includes the "dark ages," when the only radiation was the glow left over from the Big Bang, and the dawn of the modern universe, when the first stars and galaxies formed.
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Augmentation of the Astrophysics Theory Program Laboratory Astrophysics Program National Astrophysical Theory Postdoctoral Program Ultralong-Duration Balloon Program Subtotal space-based 956 Total space-based 1,000 800 200 I00 2,100 300 250 300 I50 350 1,350 45 I00 30 40 I4 35 264 3,714 4,670 aCost estimates for ground-based capital projects include technology development plus funds for operations, new instrumentation, and facility grants for 5 years. bBest available estimated costs to U.S.
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Exceptions are SKA technology development, which includes only funds for a theory challenge, budgeted at $200,000 per year for the decade; the Telescope System Instrumentation Program, which as an instrumentation program does not require operations or instrumentation funds and is too fragmented to have a grants program; and NVO, the National Astrophysical Theory Postdoctoral Program, and the Laboratory Astrophysics Program, which are not capital projects and therefore have no added costs. The Large-area Synoptic Survey Telescope is expected to have significant expenses for data analysis, and so the estimate of the total operations cost by the Panel on Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground (see Panel Reports; NRC, 2001)
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Many of the projects listed in Table 1.1 have been studied extensively and should have reasonably accurate cost estimates (see the discussions of individual projects in the Panel Reports; NRC, 20013. For others, such as TPF and GSMT, more accurate cost estimates must await the outcome of future technology developments.
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The European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency plan to make substantial contributions to the instrumentation of NGST. Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope.
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Full costs are given for all initiatives except TPF and the SAFIR Observatory. Cost estimate for this initiative assumes significant additional funding to be provided by international or private partner; see Panel Reports (NRC, 2001)
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The cost of technology development and construction is estimated to be about $400 million. It is assumed that half of these costs and half of the operations costs will be borne by private and/or international partners; the cost estimates in Tables 1.1 and 1.2 are therefore based on a federal capital cost of $200 million.
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It will also contribute to the study of the structure of the universe by observing thousands of supernovae, both nearby and at large redshift, and by measuring the distribution of dark matter through gravitational tensing. LSST will produce a terabyte of data per night, all of which will be accessible to scientists and the public alike through the National Virtual Observatory.
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instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. GLAST will study powerful jets from the supermassive black holes in the centers of distant galaxies, the acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays, and the origin of tremendous bursts of gamma-ray radiation from the distant universe.
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It is proposed as a joint project with international partners, in which the United States would provide about half the costs. Square Kilometer Array Technology Development.
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Such x rays emanate from many sources, including supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, stellar mass black holes, neutron stars, and embedded supernovae in our galaxy, and the mysterious distant sources of gamma-ray bursts of radiation. Attached to the International Space Station, EXIST will survey sources 1,000 times weaker than the sources in the previous hard x-ray survey by the High Energy Astronomical Observatory (HEAD-13.
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The SPST will take advantage of the superb atmospheric transmission conditions between wavelengths of 200 ,um and 1 mm at the South Pole to survey the dusty universe, study small variations in the background radiation emanating from the early pregalactic universe, and identify primordial galaxies. OTH OR P ROU ACTS Two areas in which the committee considered it premature to set priorities are cosmic microwave background experiments and particle astrophysics.
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The decision on how to pursue future searches for dark matter will be guided by the outcome of experiments now just starting. S MALL I N iTiATiVES National Virtual Observatory.
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, a joint project now under way between the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, provides a 100- to 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity and resolution over existing radio telescopes in the wavelength range from 2 to 20 m.
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In addition, the committee suggests that NASA consider establishing an optical communications link at "L2," the proposed site for NGST and other future NASA missions. The committee recommends investing in the development of x-ray interferometry, which has the potential of actually imaging the event horizon of a black hole, and in technology for the next generation of space observatories: energyresolving array detectors for optical, ultraviolet, and x-ray wavelengths; far-infrared array detectors; refrigerators to maintain the cryogenic temperatures needed by these detectors; large, lightweight optics (some
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These proposed technology developments are discussed in greater detail in the Panel Reports (NRC, 20013. A5TRONOMY'5 ROLE IN EDUCATION Astronomers have a vital role to play in contributing to the development of science education in the United States.
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· More universities with both astronomy and education departments should establish pilot partnerships to bring scientists, educators, and experienced teachers together to design exemplary astronomy-based science courses for preservice teachers, with the goal of contributing to the achievement of long-term systemic reform in K-12 science education. · Federal agencies charged with increasing the contribution of professional scientists to educational initiatives should work with astronomers and educators to develop a common set of goals, pathways to achieve them, and mutually accepted standards for measuring success.
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2. Catherine Cesarsky, DSM Orme des Merisiers, now Director General, European Southern Observatory; Edward van den Heuvel, University of Amsterdam; Don Morton, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada; Luis Rodriguez, Instituto de Astronomia, National Autonomous University of Mexico; Yasuo Tanaka, Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, Japan, and Max-PlanckInstitut fur extraterrestrische Physik; Reinhard Genzel, Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik; Sami Solanki, ETH Zurich Institute of Astronomy, Switzerland; and Roger Davies, Durham University, United Kingdom.
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Chapter Two, page 50 Figure 5 Unedited Prepublication Draft ReportDo not quote verbatim, since wording may change in editing of the final report.
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