An Engineering Concept and Enabling Technologies for a Large Single Aperture Far-Infrared Observatory (SAFIR)

Amato, M.; Benford, Dominic J.; Moseley, H.; Román, Juan Antonio Martínez

doi:10.1117/12.461943

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…However, a few words of introduction are suitable, as the explicit mission requirements (Amato et al, 2003) were derived from the scientific questions outlined below.…”

Section: Science Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Taking the contemporary (2002) JWST design as a starting point, a detailed analysis was made of the changes necessary to produce a SAFIR that is implemented as a larger, colder version of JWST (Amato et al, 2003). A broad list of science investigations was used to generate an explicit list of technology requirements, from which the observatory requirements (Section 3) are derived.…”

Section: Telescope Concepts and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory

Benford

Amato

Mather

et al. 2004

Astrophys Space Sci

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Abstract. The Single Aperture Far-InfraRed (SAFIR) Observatory's science goals are driven by the fact that the earliest stages of almost all phenomena in the universe are shrouded in absorption by and emission from cool dust and gas that emits strongly in the far-infrared (40 µm-200 µm) and submillimeter (200 µm-1 mm). In the very early universe, the warm gas of newly collapsing, unenriched galaxies will be revealed by molecular hydrogen emission lines at these long wavelengths. High redshift quasars are found to have substantial reservoirs of cool gas and dust, indicative of substantial metal enrichment early in the history of the universe. As a result, even early stages of galaxy formation will show powerful far-infrared emission. The combination of strong dust emission and large redshift (1 < z < 7) of these galaxies means that they can only be studied in the far-infrared and submillimeter. For nearby galaxies, many of the most active galaxies in the universe appear to be those whose gaseous disks are interacting in violent collisions. The details of these galaxies, including the effect of the central black holes that probably exist in most of them, are obscured to shorter wavelength optical and ultraviolet observatories by the large amounts of dust in their interstellar media. Within our own galaxy, the earliest stages of star formation, when gas and dust clouds are collapsing and the beginnings of a central star are taking shape, can only be observed in the far-infrared and submillimeter. The cold dust that ultimately forms the planetary systems, as well as the cool "debris" dust clouds that indicate the likelihood of planetary sized bodies around more developed stars, can only be observed at wavelengths longward of 20 µm.Over the past several years, there has been an increasing recognition of the critical importance of the far-infrared to submillimeter spectral region to addressing fundamental astrophysical problems, ranging from cosmological questions to understanding how our own Solar System came into being. The development of large, far-infrared telescopes in space has become more feasible with the combination of developments for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of enabling breakthroughs in detector technology.We have developed a preliminary but comprehensive mission concept for SAFIR, as a 10 m-class far-infrared and submillimeter observatory that would begin development later in this decade to meet the needs outlined above. Its operating temperature (≤4 K) and instrument complement would be optimized to reach the natural sky confusion limit in the far-infrared with diffraction-limited performance down to at least the atmospheric cutoff, λ 40 µm . This would provide a point source sensitivity improvement of several orders of magnitude over that of the Spitzer Space Telescope (previously SIRTF) or the Herschel Space Observatory. Additionally, it would have an angular resolution 12 times finer than that of Spitzer and three times finer than Herschel. This sensitivity and angular resolution are nec...

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“…However, a few words of introduction are suitable, as the explicit mission requirements (Amato et al, 2003) were derived from the scientific questions outlined below.…”

Section: Science Driversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Telescope Concepts and Expected Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory

Benford

Amato

Mather

et al. 2004

Astrophys Space Sci

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“…The anticipated future instruments for airborne and space-based astronomy, however, are a call for a concerted effort to advance the technology in this critical area. Far IR arrays, for example, constitute the defining technology for stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy (SOFIA); for single aperture far infrared observatory (SAFIR) -conceptualized as a 5 K, 10 m space telescope operating in the 40 lm-1 mm wavelength range [9][10][11]; and for space infrared telescope for cosmology and astrophysics (SPICA) -a Japanese 3.5 m space telescope covering the 5-200 lm wavelength range [12]. These projects require large format (larger than 64 · 64) far IR detector arrays with cryogenic readout multiplexers, the technology that is currently immature.…”

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confidence: 99%

A low noise 2×16 Ge:Sb focal-plane array: Paving the way for large format FPAs for far IR astronomy

Farhoomand

Sisson

Beeman

2007

Infrared Physics & Technology

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“…r New detectors for astronomical applications must be compatible with large format arrays. The SCUBA-2 camera with 10,240 pixels (eight subarrays with 32 Â 40 Â pixels each) and noise equivalent power (NEP) t3 Â 10 À17 sets a high standard, but planned high altitude and space-based observatories require large-format ð10 3 À 10 5 pixelsÞ arrays of detectors with NEPs lower than 5 Â 10 À18 W=Hz 1=2 for deep-space mapping in the far-infrared (1 mm-10 mm) wavelength band [1]. Hence, the detector community must deliver both lower NEPs for low background powers and large arrays.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%