A Far Infrared Photometer (FIRP) for the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS)

We describe the design and calibration of the Far-Infrared Photometer (FIRP), one of four focal plane instruments on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS). The FIRP will provide absolute photometry in four bands centered at 150, 250, 400, and 700 μm with spectral resolution λ/Δλ ≈ 3 and spatial resolution ΔΘ = 0.5 degrees. High sensitivity is achieved by using bolometric detectors operated at 300 mK in an AC bridge circuit. The closed-cycle ³He refrigerator can be recycled in orbit. A 2 K shutter provides a zero reference for each field of view. More than 10% of the sky will be surveyed during the ≈3 week mission lifetime with a sensitivity of <10⁻¹³ W·cm⁻²·sr⁻¹ per 0.5 degree pixel.     

The INFRARED SPACE OBSERVATORY (ISO)

The INFRARED SPACE OBSERVATORY (ISO), a project of the European Space Agency (ESA), will make various astronomical observations in the wavelength range of 2 to 200 μm. Two-thirds of its observing time will be available to guest observers via the traditional route of proposal submission. ISO will be launched in 1995 by an Ariane 4 from Kourou (Guyana) and be brought into a very elongated orbit with a 24hr period of which 16 hr can be used for astronomical observations. The payload module is essentially a large cryostat with a tank that will be filled with over 2000 litres of superfluid helium to keep the instruments cold (2 to 4 K) during an expected lifetime of 18 months. Inside the dewar, there is a Ritchey-Chretien telescope with a primary mirror of diameter 60cm. Four instruments, each provided by a different PI consortium, share the ISO focal plane. These instruments are : a photometer, a camera and two spectrometers — one for the wavelength range 2–45 μm and the other for 45–180 μm.     

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

The James Webb Space Telescope is a 6.5 m, infrared space telescope designed to be launched in 2013 aboard an Ariane 5. The JWST program is a cooperative program with the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) managing the project for NASA. The prime contractor for JWST is Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST). JWST’s international partners are the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). JWST will address four major science themes: end of the dark ages: first light and reionization; the assembly of galaxies, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems; and the formation of planetary systems and the origins of life. We discuss the design of the observatory and review recent progress on the JWST program.     

Hardware development and tests in the GIRL project

The German Infrared Laboratory GIRL is a liquid helium-cooled telescope with four focal plane instruments dedicated to astronomical and aeronomical observations.Hardware tests were performed with a thermal model of the cryostat and other components as active phase separator, optical switches, main mirror, baffle etc.In the test phase the thermal behavior of the system was checked out in a step by step procedure. The timeline of the individual experiments and of two representative orbits were simulated by electrical heaters. Temperatures and helium flow rates for the different operation modes were measured.An outlook shows that the project phase in 1982 is dedicated to further development and tests of hardware and complete definition and specification of all GIRL systems.     

AXAF,a permanent orbiting X-ray observatory: Telescope and instrumentation plans

The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) now under study is to be a long-lived X-ray observatory in space. It is to be launched by the Space Shuttle, maintainable on-orbit, and retrievable for ground re-furbishment. The AXAF is conceived as an X-ray telescope with 6 nested grazing incidence X-ray mirrors (with a maximum aperture of 1.2 m) and interchangeable and replaceable focal plane instruments. The optics will provide 0.5 arcsecond imagery over a several arcminute field and somewhat reduced resolution over 1 degree in the X-ray band from 0.1 to 10 keV (1.2 to 120 A). The characteristics and expected performance of the observatory are described.     

Girl — the German infrared laboratory for spacelab

GIRL is a liquid helium cooled 50 cm telescope equipped with four focal plane instruments dedicated to astronomical and aeronomical observations. These instruments, a detector array, a photopolarimeter, an Ebert-Fastie-spectrometer and a Michelson-interferometer make up an “infrared observatory” having high sensitivity and high spectral and spatial resolution. Si:Ga-, Si:Sb-, Si:As-, Si:P-, Ge:Be-, Ge:Cu- and Ge:Ga-detectors with NEP-values as low as $\text{3 10}{}^{\mathrm{?17}}\text{W Hz}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ have been tested and will be used to cover the wavelength range 3…120 μm. A full size “thermal model” of the GIRL cryostat containing 300 1 of superfluid helium at 1.6 K has been tested at the industrial prime contractor MBB; results of these tests will be presented in a following paper by F. Dahl et al. Several new techniques for cold telescopes are used in GIRL, for instance a glass ceramics primary mirror, a low power chopping secondary and an active helium phase separator. The scientific objectives include studies of star formation regions and active galaxies as well as measurements of spurious gases in the earth atmosphere. GIRL will be pointed by the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) and is scheduled to fly on Spacelab in 1986/87.     

FIRST — Far Infrared and Submillimetre Space Telescope

The present status of the ESA cornerstone mission FIRST is presented. A recent industrial study has generated a spacecraft concept employing a 4.5 m passively cooled telescope with focal plane instrument cooling provided by a superfluid helium cryostat. The model payload complement includes two direct detection instruments as well as two heterodyne instruments. After a shared launch by Ariane 5 into GTO, FIRST propels itself into the 24-hour highly eccentric operational orbit, where observations can be conducted up to 17 hours per day with an expected approximate mission duration of 3 years. An additional complementary study of a non-cryostat spacecraft option will also be performed.     

A new window on the cosmos: The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint US/German Project to develop and operate a gyrostabilized 2.5-m telescope in a Boeing 747-SP. This observatory will allow astronomical observations from 0.3 μm to sub-millimeter wavelengths at stratospheric altitudes as high as 45,000 ft where the atmosphere is not only cloud-free, but largely transparent at infrared wavelengths. The dynamics and chemistry of interstellar matter, and the details of embedded star formation will be key science goals. In addition, SOFIA’s unique portability will enable large-telescope observations at sites required to observe transient phenomena and location specific events. SOFIA will offer the convenient accessibility of a ground-based telescope for servicing, maintenance, and regular technology upgrades, yet will also have many of the performance advantages of a space-based telescope. Initially, SOFIA will fly with nine first-generation focal plane instruments that include broad-band imagers, moderate resolution spectrographs that will resolve broad features from dust and large molecules, and high resolution spectrometers capable of studying the chemistry and detailed kinematics of molecular and atomic gas. First science flights will begin in 2010, leading to a full operations schedule of about 120 8–10 h flights per year by 2014. The next call for instrument development that can respond to scientifically exciting new technologies will be issued in 2010. We describe the SOFIA facility and outline the opportunities for observations by the general scientific community with cutting edge focal plane technology. We summarize the operational characteristics of the first-generation instruments and give specific examples of the types of fundamental scientific studies these instruments are expected to make.     

WSO-UV project

During last three decades, astronomers have enjoyed continuous access to the 100–300 nm ultraviolet (UV) spectral range where the resonance transitions of the most abundant atoms and ions (at temperatures between 3000 and 300 000 K) reside. This UV range is not accessible from ground-based facilities. The successful International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observatory, the Russian ASTRON mission and successor instruments such as the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission or the COS and STIS spectrographs on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) prove the major impact of observations in the UV wavelength range in modern astronomy. Future access to space-based observatories is expected to be very limited. For the next decade, the post-HST era, the World Space Observatory – Ultraviolet (WSO–UV) will be the only 2-m class UV telescope with capabilities similar to the HST. WSO–UV will be equipped with instruments for imaging and spectroscopy and it will be a facility dedicated, full-time, to UV astronomy. In this article, we briefly outline the current status of the WSO–UV mission and the science management plan.     

Imaging interplanetary CMEs at radio frequency from solar polar orbit

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) represent a great concentration of mass and energy input into the lower corona. They have come to be recognized as the major driver of physical conditions change in the Sun–Earth system. Consequently, observations of CMEs are important for understanding and ultimately predicting space weather conditions. This paper discusses a proposed mission, the Solar Polar Orbit Radio Telescope (SPORT) mission, which will observe the propagation of interplanetary CMEs to distances of near 0.35 AU from the Sun. The orbit of SPORT is an elliptical solar polar orbit. The inclination angle between the orbit and ecliptic plane should be about 90°. The main payload on board SPORT will be an imaging radiometer working at the meter wavelength band (radio telescope), which can follow the propagation of interplanetary CMEs. The images that are obtained by the radio telescope embody the brightness temperature of the objectives. Due to the very large size required for the antenna aperture of the radio telescope, we adopt interferometric imaging technology to reduce it. Interferometric imaging technology is based on indirect spatial frequency domain measurements plus Fourier transformation. The SPORT spacecraft will also be equipped with a set of optical and in situ measurement instruments such as a EUV solar telescope, a solar wind ion instrument, an energetic particle detector, a magnetometer, a wave detector and a solar radio burst spectrometer.     

The ROSAT mission

A primary scientific objective of the ROSAT mission is to perform the first all-sky survey with an imaging X-ray telescope leading to an improvement in sensitivity by several orders of magnitude compared with previous surveys. A large number of new sources (? 10⁵) will be discovered and located with an accuracy of 1 arcmin or better. These will comprise almost all astronomical objects from nearby normal stars to distant quasistellar objects. After completion of the survey which will take half a year the instrument will be used for detailed observations of selected sources with respect to spatial structure, spectra and time variability. In this mode which will be open for guest observers ROSAT will provide substantial improvement over the imaging instruments of the Einstein observatory.The main ROSAT telescope consists of a fourfold nested mirror system with 83 cm aperture having three focal plane instruments. Two of them will be imaging proportional counters (0.1 – 2 keV) providing a field of view of 2°, an angular resolution of ≈ 30″ in the pointing mode and a spectral resolution ^ΔE/E ≈ 45% FWHM at 1 keV. The third focal instrument will be a high resolution imager (≈ 3″). The main ROSAT telescope will be complemented by a parallel looking Wide Field camera which extend the spectral coverage into the XUV band.     

Status of space science and technology — An Australian perspective

The “Tyranny of Distance” has had a profound influence on Australian history and reaction to it has been an important factor in determining national scientific and technological goals. Because of its size and geographical remoteness, Australia is one of the countries to have gained substantially from the applications of space technology particularly in the fields of communications, meteorology and remote sensing. Australia is the fifth largest investor in INTELSAT which carries a major fraction of the nation's overseas telecommunications. A domestic satellite system, AUSSAT, is being acquired to improve telecommunications within the country. Australia is heavily dependent on satellite data for routine meteorological forecasting. Data from the Australian Landsat Station are in strong demand, particularly for mineral exploration. In the field of space science, Australia is collaborating with Canada and the United States in feasibility studies for STARLAB, a free-flying UV-optical one metre telescope proposed for launch by the US Space Shuttle beginning in 1989. These scientific and technological programs in which Australia is participating are all dependent upon the space programs of other nations and in describing the status of space science and technology from an Australian perspective some comments will be made on particular aspects of the space programs of the United States and Japan.     

International scientific optical network for space debris research

A joint team of researchers under the auspices of the Center for Space Debris Information Collection, Processing and Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences collaborates with 15 observatories around the world to perform observations of space debris. For this purpose, 14 telescopes were equipped with charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, CCD frame processing and ephemeris computation software, with the support of the European and Russian grants. Many of the observation campaigns were carried out in collaboration with the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) team operating at the Zimmerwald observatory and conducting research for the European Space Agency (ESA), using the Tenerife/Teide telescope for searching and tracking of unknown objects in the geostationary region (GEO). More than 130,000 measurements of space objects along a GEO arc of 340.9°, collected and processed at Space Debris Data Base in the Ballistic Center of the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (KIAM) in 2005–2006, allowed us to find 288 GEO objects that are absent in the public orbital databases and to determine their orbital elements. Methods of discovering and tracking small space debris fragments at high orbits were developed and tested. About 40 of 150 detected unknown objects of magnitudes 15–20.5 were tracked during many months. A series of dedicated 22-cm telescopes with large field of view for GEO survey tasks is in process of construction. 7 60-cm telescopes will be modernized in 2007.     

SPACE DEBRIS RESEARCH IN CHINA(2000-2002)

Space debris is is referred to as the human made pollution in the space environment.Ever since the first launch of man made satellite in 1957, millions of kilograms of objects have been sent into the space. Large space objects that are traceable and cataloged by ground base telescope and radar reach around 9 000, becoming grave threat to the social development of human beings as well as astronautics.     

World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet: ISSIS,the imaging instrument

The Imaging and Slitless Spectroscopy Instrument (ISSIS) will be flown as part of the science instrumentation in the World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet (WSO-UV). ISSIS will be the first UV imager to operate in a high Earth orbit from a 2 m class space telescope. In this contribution, the science driving the ISSIS design and the main characteristics of this instrument are presented.     

The SIRTF mission

This paper describes the status of NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) program. SIRTF will be a cryogenically cooled observatory for infrared astronomy from space and is planned for launch early in the next decade. We discuss a newly modified baseline SIRTF mission and review the state of the detector technology which will provide the heart of SIRTF's scientific advances.     

一种辐射带电子望远镜

此仪器为测量辐射带电子分布,估计空间电子对卫星仪器设备的损伤效应而研制。 仪器分三个能挡,即E_(e1)≥0.25MeV,E_(e2)≥0.5MeV,E_(e3)≥0.8MeV。探头部分采用三块贯穿式金硅面垒型半导体探测器构成望远镜式结构,具有高的分辨率,噪声低,线性响应好等特性,能够将电子信号和其他带电粒子(如质子、α粒子等)产生的干扰信号可靠地区别开来。 仪器经过校准、环境实验以及在卫星上实际使用,性能可靠,达到了设计要求,取得了一系列实验数据。     

Wide field cameras for SAX

SAX is an Italian X-ray satellite with a Dutch contribution that will be placed in orbit in 1994. The prime scientific object of SAX is to cover an energy bandwidth that ranges from 0.1 keV up to 200 keV. Among other instruments, SAX will consist of two X-ray Wide Field Cameras built by the Space Research Organisation Netherlands at Utrecht. The WFCs are based on the coded mask principle, the reconstruction of the image takes place on ground. The field of view is 20 degrees square full width at half maximum (FWHM), the angular resolution 5 arcminutes (FWHM) and the energy band ranges from 1.8 to 30 keV with a resolution of 18% at 6 keV. The sensitive area is 200 cm² at 6 keV. The mask pattern is based on a pseudo random array with 255 × 257 elements of 1 mm², 50% of which are transparent.