Transcript SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy

1
SOFIA
Stratospheric Observatory
For Infrared Astronomy
E. E. Becklin
SOFIA Chief Scientist
AAS WORKSHOP
Jan 7, 2007
2
Outline
•
•
•
•
3
Overview of SOFIA
Progress to Date
Science Capabilities
Schedule
OVERVIEW OF SOFIA
4
Overview of SOFIA
• SOFIA is a 2.5 m telescope in a modified B747SP aircraft
– Optical to mm wavelength performance
– Obscured IR range (30-300 m) is most important
• Joint Program between the US (80%) and Germany (20%)
• First Science 2009 (NASA, DLR, USRA, DSI)
• Designed for 20 year lifetime
5
Overview of SOFIA (continued)
• Operating altitude:
– 39,000 to 45,000 feet (12 to 14 km)
– Above > 99% of obscuring water vapor
• World-wide deployments
• Ramp up to ~1000 science hours per year
• Build on KAO Heritage with improvements
– Facility Instruments
– Science support
• Science flights to originate from Palmdale Site 9 run by DFRC
• Science Center is located at NASA Ames Research Center
6
SOFIA — The Observatory
open cavity
(door not shown)
Educators work station
pressure bulkhead
scientist stations, telescope and
instrument control, etc.
TELESCOPE
scientific instrument (1 of 9)
Why SOFIA?
• Infrared transmission in the
stratosphere very good:
Average > 80% from
1 to 1000 microns
• Instrumentation:
wide complement,
interchangeable,
state-of-art
• Mobility: anywhere, anytime
• Long lifetime
• Outstanding platform to train
future instrumentalists
8
PROGRESS TO DATE
9
SOFIA’s First Flight - 26 April, 2007
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
10
Major Physical Installations Completed
Main deck, looking aft at instrument interface
Telescope installed
11
Primary Mirror (uncoated)
12
Telescope in Action
QuickTime™ and a
Motion JPEG OpenDML decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
13
SOFIA’s Instrument Complement
As an airborne mission, SOFIA
supports a unique, expandable
instrument suite
• SOFIA covers the full IR range with
imagers and low- to high-resolution
spectrographs
• FORCAST and GREAT for
Early Science in 2009
• FIFI-LS, HIPO and FLITECAM in 2010
• All 9 instruments by ~ 2012.
• SOFIA will take full advantage of
improvements in instrument technology.
There will be one new instrument or
major upgrade each year.
14
Four First Light Instruments
Working/complete
HIPO instrument
in Waco on SOFIA
during Aug 2004
Working/complete
FLITECAM
instrument at
Lick in 2004/5
Working FORCAST
instrument at
Palomar in 2005
Successful lab
demonstration of
GREAT in July 2005
15
SCIENCE CAPABILITIES
16
Science Capabilities
• Because of large aperture and better detectors, sensitivity for
imaging and spectroscopy similar to the space observatory ISO.
• > 8 arcmin field-of-view allows use of very large detector arrays.
• Image size is diffraction-limited beyond 25 µm.
• Theta(FWHM) ~ Lambda(microns) / 10 arcsec
17
Photometric Sensitivity
10
Photometric Sensitivity
1 Sigma, 1 hr, Flux Density (mJy)
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
3
IRAS
2
1
0
-1
-2
KAO
SIRTF
Spitzer
-3
SOFIA
-4
-5
0.
1
10
Wavelength (µm)
18
Herschel
ISO
100
1000
Angular Resolution
19
Other Science Capabilities
• Primary Mirror diameter 2.7 meters. Use the central 2.5 meters.
• Secondary Chopper: 8 arcmin peak-to-peak, f ~ 20Hz
• Background:  ~ 0.1, T ~ 240 K
• Telescope elevation range is 20 to 60 degrees
• Instruments are accessible
20
SOFIA Advances Other Major Missions
• Spitzer: SOFIA has 3 times higher angular resolution beyond 25
microns. Higher spectral resolution. Capabilities beyond 160
microns.
• Herschel: SOFIA has capabilities below 60 microns. Higher
spectral resolution below 150 microns (2 THz). Much longer life
time and advanced Instruments (large arrays and higher sensitivity).
• JWST: SOFIA has capabilities beyond 28 microns. Higher spectral
resolution from 5 to 28 microns.
• ALMA: SOFIA has capabilities below 300 microns and between
500 and 600 microns.
21
100
SPITZER
SAFIR
0.3
Herschel
Wavelength (µm)
1000
SOFIA
?
3
JWST
10
30
1
2005
Ground-based
Observatories
22
2010
2015
2020
2025
SOFIA provides temporal continuity and wide spectral
coverage, complementing other infrared observatories.
Frequency (THz)
Infrared Space Observatories
SCHEDULE
23
SOFIA Schedule (Major Milestones)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
24
First Re-Flight
Ten Closed Door Flights
Door Drive Delivered
Mirror coated and ground tests
Open Door Flights at Palmdale
First Science
Next Instrument call
Occurred April ‘07
Finished Dec ‘07
Spring ‘08
Spring/Summer 08
Fall ‘08
‘09
‘10
Early Science US General Observer Opportunities
• First call Early Science proposals this year
– Early Short Science Aug ‘08 with PI’s
– Early Basic Science Dec ‘08 GO’s
•
Early Short Science with FORCAST and GREAT
– Special call for participation with PI’s
– Very limited flights (~3)
– GO’s will not fly
• Early Basic Science also with FORCAST and GREAT
– Longer period (~15 Flights)
– More capabilities
– Call will be for GO Science and GO participation
25
US General Observer Opportunities in 2010 and Beyond
• There will be a GO call in FY 2010 for the 5 first
Science Instruments. (FORCAST, GREAT, FIFI-LS,
FLITECAM and HIPO)
• FORCAST, FLITECAM and FIFI-LS will be facility or “facility
like instruments” Do not need to be an IR specialist. Data
Pipelines. Archive. Science Support on the Flight.
• GO’s work with the PI for PI instruments
• There will be about $3m/ year for GO support for data
reduction
26
Next Call for New Instruments
• The next call for instruments will be at First Science ~ FY ‘10
• We are considering:
– New science instruments, both FSI and PSI
– Studies of instruments and technology
– Upgrades to present instruments
• There will be additional calls every 3 years
• There will be one new instrument or upgrade per year
• Approximate funding for new instruments and technology is
~$10 M/yr
27
Summary
• Program making progress!
– Aircraft structural modifications
complete
– Telescope installed, several
instruments tested on ground
observatories
– Completed first flight and ferry flight
to NASA Dryden
– Full envelope flight testing (closed
door) 80% complete.
– Several subsystems will be
installed spring/summer 08 (door
motor drive, coated primary mirror)
– First science in ’09
• SOFIA will be one of the primary
facilities for far-IR and submillimeter astronomy for many
years
28
BACK-UP
29
OPERATIONS PLANS
30
SOFIA Operations Drivers
• Frequent Flights: 960 science hours/year (2x KAO)
• World-wide deployments especially to the Southern Hemisphere will
be scheduled as required by science
• Both Facility and PI Instruments
• Facility Instruments: Good tools, Data Pipelines and Archive - easy
for non-IR astronomer to obtain good data (New for Airborne
Astronomy with SOFIA)
• PI Instruments: State of the art and innovative
• General Investigator program for both FSI and PI, with funded
research
• Robust Instrument program to allow Observatory to “reinvent itself”
every few years
• Unique Education and Public Outreach program
31
SOFIA Science Operations
•
•
•
SOFIA will be operated as an observatory open to the whole science
community through peer review
3 flights a week for ~40 weeks per year
Flights will be primarily out of SOFIA Operations Center at Palmdale Airport
near Dryden with occasional deployments to the southern hemisphere and
other sites as needed
– Continuous access of science and mission staff to airplane
– Preflight instrument simulator facilities (testing and alignment) for mission
preparation
– Instrument laboratories including cryogen facilities
– Rapid instrument exchange
•
SOFIA Science Center will be at Ames
–
–
–
–
–
–
32
Telescope time peer review
Observing time schedule
Flight planning
Management of Instruments (Operations and Development)
Science Data Archive(Facility Instruments Reduced data, PI raw data)
Observing Support
SOFIA and Spitzer
• SOFIA will become operational near the time that Spitzer runs
out of cryogens. The science impact of not being
contemporary is small: Spitzer is a high sensitivity imaging
and low resolution spectroscopy mission. SOFIA is a high
spectral and high angular resolution mission
• As it now stands, the two observatories are very
complementary and when Spitzer runs out of cryogens in
early FY09, SOFIA will be the only observatory working in the
25 to 60 micron region for over 10 years: Comets,
Supernovae, Variable AGN, other discoveries.
33
SOFIA and Herschel
• Herschel and SOFIA will now start at about the same time
• Joint calibration work is on going
• For the years of overlap, SOFIA will be only program:
– with 25 to 60 micron capability
– with high resolution spectroscopy in the 60 to 150 micron region
• When cryogens run out in Herschel in ~2011 SOFIA will be
only NASA mission in 25 to 600 micron region for many years
– Important follow-up
– Advanced instrumentation will give unique capabilities to SOFIA:
Polarization, Heterodyne Arrays, Heterodyne Spectroscopy at
28 microns (ground state of molecular hydrogen), and other
interesting astrophysics lines
• Both missions are critically important and complementary
34
SOFIA and JWST
• SOFIA is very complementary to JWST
• Before JWST is deployed and after Spitzer cryogens run out ,
SOFIA is only mission with 5 to 8 micron capabilities
– important organic signatures
• After JWST is launched SOFIA is the only mission to give
complementary observation beyond 28 microns and high
resolution spectroscopy in the 5 to 28 micron region
35
SOFIA and WISE
• WISE is a very sensitive all sky survey in the 3.3 to 23 micron
region. It is expect to launch just as SOFIA begins
operations.
• SOFIA can provide a number of important follow-up
observations.
– Very red sources seen only at 23 microns can be followed up at
38 microns with FORCAST on SOFIA and spectra can be
obtained with EXES on SOFIA for the brightest 23 micron
sources not seen by IRAS.
– Nearby cold Brown Dwarfs discovered by WISE can be followed
up with the FLITECAM GRISM and EXES.
36