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NASA Considering Flagship Space Telescope Options for the 2030s

posted by CoolHand on Monday July 24 2017, @06:14PM   
from the primo-glass dept.

takyon writes:

NASA is considering four proposed space telescopes and will likely launch one of them in the 2030s as a flagship mission, like the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope:

• Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), a multipurpose follow-up mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope with a 8-16 meter (26-52 foot) primary mirror that would make discoveries on exoplanets, dark matter, star formation, the earliest galaxies of the universe, and within our own solar system.
• Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx), a smaller telescope than LUVOIR with a 4-8 meter (13-26 foot) primary mirror and instruments sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light to find worlds outside our solar system that could harbor life. HabEx could fly with a coronagraph, a component inside the telescope to mask starlight and reveal faint reflections from planets, or a starshade, a separate vehicle flying in formation with the telescope to blot out starlight.
• Origins Space Telescope, a far-infrared surveyor with a primary mirror up to 9 meters (30 feet) in diameter that would be a successor to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. The Origins Space Telescope will investigate how galaxies, stars and planets form, search for water and greenhouse gases on exoplanets, and study interstellar dust.
• The Lynx X-ray telescope, following in the footsteps of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton mission, will study the dawn of the first black holes, and the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies and light sources emerged after the Big Bang.

The LUVOIR space telescope would be the closest to a successor of Hubble, covering a similar range of wavelengths. It is also similar in size to two recent proposals: the High Definition Space Telescope (HDST) and the Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST).

The JWST was not designed to be serviceable and will likely only last for 5-10 years after its planned launch in October 2018. It has a 6.5 meter primary mirror. Hubble has been operating since 1990 but only has a 2.4 meter primary mirror.

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will launch in the 2020s.

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Original Submission

• Re:Why not all? (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday July 24 2017, @08:16PM

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday July 24 2017, @08:16PM (#543865) Journal

  I think that has more to do with the advent of the atomic bomb and America becoming the top dog superpower than the defense capabilities of the aircraft carrier. Aircraft carriers are vulnerable to being spammed and sunk by relatively cheap missiles, which is why they are looking at adding laser weapons:

  http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/lasers-the-us-navys-next-big-mega-weapon-19997 [nationalinterest.org]
  http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/americas-new-aircraft-carriers-will-use-lasers-annihilate-13140 [nationalinterest.org]

  As Rear Adm. Manazir pointed out, placing laser weapons on aircraft carriers makes a ton of sense. Currently, many fear that aircraft carriers are becoming obsolete as precision-guided anti-ship missiles—most notably, China’s DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM)—proliferate to America’s enemies, who could use them to sink carriers.

  The U.S. Navy’s carrier strike groups (CSGs) have considerable air and missile defense firepower, but traditional missile defense systems still suffer from basic arithmetic problems. To begin with, offensive missiles continue to be significantly cheaper to produce and operate than the interceptors used to defend against them. In addition, ships can only carry so many interceptor missiles on board, and the more space given to anti-air and missile defense systems the less offensive firepower they will wield.

  Laser and directed energy weapons promise to solve both of these issues. As Manazir explained, “There are finite numbers of missiles and finite installations on the carrier. If you can put a directed energy piece on there with its lower cost per round, you can see where you can start to reduce the cost overall and measurably increase the protection of the ship."

  --
  [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

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