Far-IR Astronomy from Space and the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Process

Astro2010, the astronomy and astrophysics decadal survey, is the latest in a series of surveys that are produced every 10 years by the National Research Council (NRC) of The National Academy of Sciences. The decadal surveys assess science opportunities and recommend priorities for federal investment in astronomy and astrophysics. A link to the Astro2010 web site can be found here

Community Workshop

In preparation for the Decadal Survey, and in celebration of the 25th anniversary of IRAS, we held a workshop to discuss strategies and plans for the future of far-infrared space astronomy. The goal of the workshop was to help define key science and technologies for the next generation of space-based far-infrared missions, based upon recent discoveries and the expected return of upcoming facilities, such as WISE, Herschel, SOFIA, JWST, ALMA, etc.

A copy of the most recent draft of the whitepaper generated from the Pasadena meeting can be found here. This draft was distributed and discussed at the January 2009 AAS meeting in Long Beach, CA, during a special session entitled "The Far-Infrared/Submillimeter Universe in High Definition" which took place on Tuesday, Jan. 6th at 2pm.

Documents

• 2008 Community Plan for Far-Infrared/Submillimeter Astronomy from Space (v1.1, 13 Mar.2009)
• 2002 Community Plan for Far-Infrared/Submillimeter Space Astronomy

Astro2010 Science White Papers

• "Star Formation Through Cosmic Time: From Local Galaxies to the Early Universe" (G. Stacey, et al.)
• "Dust Enshrouded Star and Planet Formation" (L. Mundy, et al.)
• "A Complete View of Galaxy Evolution: Panchromatic Luminosity Functions and the Generation of Metals" (A. Blain, et al.)
• "Characterizing Extrasolar Planetary Systems" (D. Leisawitz, et al.)
• "Lifting the Cosmic Veil on the Co-evolution of Black Holes and Galaxies: The Role of Far-Infrared Spectroscopy from Space" (L. Armus, et al.)
• "The Dark Side of Reionization: Probing Cooling in the Early Universe" (P. Appleton, et al.)
• "Resolving Water Vapor in Planet-forming Disks" (M.R. Hogerheijde, et al.)

Astro2010 Cross-Cutting White Paper

• "Far-Infrared/Submillimeter Astronomy from Space -- Tracking an Evolving Universe and the Emergence of Life" (M. Harwit, et al.)

Astro2010 Technology Development White Papers

• "Superconducting Detector Arrays for Far-Infrared to mm-Wave Astrophysics" (J. Bock, et al.)

Astro2010 Request for Information on Activities White Papers

• "The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT)" (D. Leisawitz, et al.)
• "U.S. Participation in the JAXA-led SPICA Mission: The Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectrograph (BLISS)" (M. Bradford, et al.)
  • For more information, see the BLISS web page at http://www.submm.caltech.edu/BLISS/
• "CALISTO: The Cryogenic Aperture Large Infrared Space Telescope Observatory" (P. Goldsmith, et al.)