By Ron Cowen
Astronomers tasked with compiling a priority list of U.S. astronomy projects for the next decade are seeing red, and not just because of NASA’s meager science budget. A National Research Council report released August 13 ranks several telescopes observing the universe at infrared and at even longer, redder wavelengths among the highest-priority instruments to be developed between 2012 and 2021.
These include the proposed Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, an estimated $1.6-billion orbiting observatory that would examine the nature of dark energy, provide broad snapshots of the infrared sky and search for habitable, Earthlike planets. The telescope, which could be launched around 2020, would complement the ultrasharp but narrow vision of the James Webb Space Telescope, the infrared successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that is set to launch around 2015.
Infrared- and longer-wavelength telescopes enable astronomers to see farther away and thus further back in time, to the first stars, black holes and galaxies, fulfilling one of the overall goals set by the National Research Council panel. Chaired by astrophysicist Roger Blandford of Stanford University, the panel marks the sixth time that astronomers have come together to map the coming decade of U.S. astrophysics research projects.
But for the first time, this decadal survey includes independent appraisals of the technical readiness of missions, their cost and a development schedule. The committee also suggested that an independent panel be appointed to reappraise priorities in astrophysics more frequently, perhaps annually, as new technologies emerge and the risks associated with specific projects become clearer over the decade.