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Far-Infrared Space Interferometers: Future Windows on Star and Planet FormationFar-IR space interferometers will provide observational access to a spectral region containing many important cooling and diagnostic spectral lines and the bulk of the thermal emission from dust at angular scales critical to advancing our understanding of the star and planet formation process. We will describe concepts for the Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT) and the Submillimeter Probe of the Evolution of Cosmic Structure (SPECS). Both of these candidate NASA missions are imaging and spectral Michelson interferometers operating in the wavelength range -40 - 800 microns. SPIRIT, which could be launched in a decade as a NASA Origins Probe, is built on a deployable boom and has a maximum baseline length of -30 - 50 m, yielding sub-arcsecond resolution in the far-IR. SPIRIT will thus provide far-IR/sub-mm measurements complementary to the near- and mid-IR measurements obtainable with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and well matched to JWST observations in angular resolution. Ultimately SPECS, a NASA Vision Mission, will use formation flying to attain baseline lengths up to 1 km, and thus angular resolution comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. We will report preliminary results of the NASA-sponsored SPIRIT and SPECS mission studies, which are now underway.
Document ID
20040171828
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Leisawitz, David
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 22, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Astrophysics Conference
Location: College Park, MD
Country: United States
Start Date: October 11, 2004
End Date: October 13, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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