Martina Wiedner – The Far-Infrared Spectroscopy Space Telescope (FIRSST) mission proposal

Titre: The Far-Infrared Spectroscopy Space Telescope (FIRSST) mission proposal

Par : Martina Wiedner

Abstract:

After the Herschel satellite, ISO and a generation of smaller satellites as well as the grounding of the SOFIA airplane observatory the far-IR sky is currently hidden from our view, with the exception of occasional short glimpses by balloon missions. NASA has therefore published a call for a far-IR (or X-ray) mission to be launched around 2032. Five X-ray proposals and three far-IR proposals, PRIMA, SALTUS and FIRSST have been submitted to NASA last November. In the talk I will present the FIRSST mission its science goals, the satellite and its instruments, in particular the heterodyne receiver. FIRSST aims to identify the physical processes that form super-Earth and mini-Neptune sized planets, traces the flow of water from star-forming cores to rocky planets and pierce the dusty shrouds to witness galaxy growth. FIRSST has a 1.8m cryogenically cooled primary mirror and is equipped with two instruments: a US direct detection spectroscopy instrument (DDSI) and a mostly European heterodyne spectroscopy instrument (HSI), which we have designed within an international consortium.