Edited by Peter Lawson
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Origins set to look beyond solar system
WIRE launch Feb. 26 from Vandenberg AFB
By Jane Platt
Reprinted with permission from JPL Universe, Vol.29, No. 1, January 8, 1999.
A galaxy of developments this past year pertained to the Origins Program
and related astrophysics missions. Public interest was heightened by the
discovery of additional extra-solar planets, including a Hubble Space
Telescope image of what appeared to be a planet ejected into deep space by
its parent stars. The image of the object, called TMR-1C, may turn out to
be the first direct look at a possible planet outside our solar system.
Excitement was generated also by the discovery of the clearest evidence yet
of a budding solar system around a nearby star. An image taken with the new
Keck II telescope in Hawaii, equipped with the sensitive, JPL-developed
infrared MIRLIN camera, revealed probable planet formation site around the
star HR 4796.
Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE), a spaceborne telescope designed to
explore the evolution of starburst galaxies and search for protogalaxies,
is scheduled for launch Feb. 26 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Fabrication, assembly and test of the instrument were completed in 1998 and
the instrument was shipped to Goddard Space Flight Center for
spacecraft-instrument integration. It will be shipped from Goddard to
Vandenberg in mid-January.
WIRE is NASA's fifth Small Explorer mission. The Small Explorer Program,
managed for NASA by Goddard, provides frequent flight opportunities for
highly focused, relatively inexpensive science missions.
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) entered its formal
development phase last spring. The highly advanced orbiting space
observatory formally passed its critical design review in September and
NASA's independent annual review in October.
The SIRTF Science Center was formally established in April, with Caltech
Professor B. Thomas Soifer named as director. The center will be
responsible for all the observatory's science operations, including
interaction with the science user community.
A decision was made to use a prototype 85-centimeter (33-inch) diameter
beryllium mirror as the flight primary mirror. Procurement and fabrication
are under way for five types of detectors for the three science instruments.
Development activities in 1999 include the fabrication of the spacecraft
bus and focal plane assembly for each of the science instruments; telescope
and cryostat fabrication and assembly will also be done. SIRTF, scheduled
for launch in December 2001, will give astronomers unprecedented views of
phenomena in the universe that are invisible to other types of telescopes.
In 1998, JPL selected Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space of Sunnyvale and
TRW Inc., Space and Electronics Group of Redondo Beach for negotiations as
industry team members for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM).
The total value of these two contracts, including mission formulation and
implementation phases, is estimated to be above $200 million. The initial
contracts will cover the formulation phase, with an option for the
implementation phase. During the formulation phase, initial mission design
and planning for full-scale implementation will be completed.
In 1999, SIM will focus its efforts on a set of technology experiments and
analyses to enable an instrument architecture decision later in the year.
In parallel, the SIM team will develop the initial draft of its project
implementation plan. SIM will launch in 2005 on a journey to measure
precisely the location of stars and to search for planets orbiting nearby
stars.
Terrestrial Planet Finder project members in 1998 studied a number of
mission configurations, developed a technology roadmap, and developed plans
to support the upcoming National Academy of Science decade review process.
This year, a detailed technology plan will be developed for a starlight
demonstration, and ongoing industrial studies will be completed.
The Keck Interferometer project completed its Critical Design Review last
August and selected EOST of Tucson, Ariz., as contractor for the outrigger
telescopes. The Keck project also received a permit from the Hawaii
Department of Land Management for the test siderostats, which will be
installed in 1999 after site construction is completed. During the coming
year, the Keck project will also apply for a permit for the outrigger
telescopes, and the two-way beam combiner will begin lab integration and
testing at JPL.
In 1998, the configuration of the FIRST/Planck project (Far Infrared/
Submillimeter Telescope) was selected for technology demonstration by the
European Space Agency's Space Program Council, the scientific body that
makes recommendations to the director. Composite Optics Inc. of San Diego
was selected as telescope contractor.
ESA is scheduled to confirm the FIRST/Planck mission in February, as long
as conflicts are resolved between instrument funding profiles and delivery
schedules. Fabrication of the 2-meter telescope technology is also
scheduled for 1999.
FIRST/Planck will determine how structure in the universe emerged from the
Big Bang by studying the evolution of galaxies and stars, the origin and
evolution of the elements, and star and planet formation.
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Mission Definition Team members
met twice in 1998. This year, a New Millennium DS-5 opportunity for flight
demonstration will be sought for LISA technology, with the goal of
demonstrating inertial sensors. LISA will partner with European space
agencies to the extent possible.
Eighteen scientists from all over the world collaborated in 1998 to define
science goals for Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth
(ARISE), which will use an innovative spacecraft with a 25-meter inflatable
antenna. An innovative combined structural and thermal antenna model was
developed using new Develop New Products software.
ARISE goals for 1999 include the issuance of draft guidelines of
cooperation between National Science Foundation and NASA. Feasibility,
trade and implementation studies will be performed for the antenna, ground
segment and telecommunication options. An antenna model will be designed,
fabricated and tested.
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which falls under the Structure and
Evolution of the Universe theme, completed its preliminary design review in
November 1998, with a Critical Design Review planned for July 1999. By
year-end, nearly all components of the science instrument will be here at
JPL, and the project will be in its integration and test phase. French team
member Laboratories d'Astonomie Spatiale will deliver a new technology
ultraviolet grism, along with other optical components, in September. The
telescope will arrive from Lightworks Optics in November, and the far- and
near-ultraviolet detectors will arrive from UC Berkeley in November 1999
and January 2000, respectively.
GALEX, a Space Ultraviolet Small Explorer mission, will launch in September
2001 on a mission to explore the origins of stars and elements. GALEX will
map the history of star formation, looking back in time 80 percent of the
way to the Big Bang, to the time when galaxies were evolving and star
formation was very active.
Maintained by Peter Lawson
MS 306-388
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
USA
Last Updated 13 January 1999
