The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) is one of four science and technology definition studies selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in preparation of the 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal survey in the US. Origins will trace the history of our origins from the time dust and heavy elements permanently altered the cosmic landscape to present-day life. It is designed to answer three major science questions: How do galaxies form stars, make metals, and grow their central supermassive black holes from reionization? How do the conditions for habitability develop during the process of planet formation? Do planets orbiting M-dwarf stars support life? Origins operates at mid- to far-infrared wavelengths from ~ 2.8 μm to 588 μm, and is more than 1000 times more sensitive than prior far-IR missions due to its cold (~ 4.5 K) aperture and state-of-the-art instruments.
The Spitzer Space Telescope operated for over 16 years in an Earth-trailing solar orbit, returning not only a wealth of scientific data but also, as a by-product, spacecraft and instrument engineering data that will be of interest to future mission planners. These data will be particularly useful because Spitzer operated in an environment essentially identical to that at the L2 LaGrange point, where many future astrophysics missions will operate. In particular, the radiative cooling demonstrated by Spitzer has been adopted by other infrared space missions, from JWST to SPHEREx. We aim to facilitate the utility of the Spitzer engineering data by collecting the more unique and potentially useful portions into a single, readily accessible publication. We avoid discussion of less unique systems, such as the telecom, flight software, and electronics systems, and do not address the innovations in mission and science operations that the Spitzer team initiated. These and other items of potential interest are addressed in references supplied in an appendix to this paper.
A conceptual design for an infrared spectrometer capable of both low resolution (a /o-a = 50; 2.5-200 microns) and moderate resolution (1000; 4-200 microns) and moderate resolution (1000; 4-200 microns) has been developed. This facility instrument will permit the spectroscopic study in the infrared of objects ranging from within the solar system to distant galaxies. The spectroscopic capability provided by this instrument for SIRTF will give astronomers orders of magnitude greater sensitivity for the study of faint objects than had been previously available. The low resolution mode will enable detailed studies of the continuum radiation. The moderate resolution mode of the instrument will permit studies of a wide range of problems, from the infrared spectral signatures of small outer solar system bodies such as Pluto and the satellites of the giant planets, to investigations of more luminous active galaxies and QSOs at substantially greater distances. A simple design concept has been developed for the spectrometer which supports the science investigation with practical cryogenic engineering. Operational flexibility is preserved with a minimum number of mechanisms. The five modules share a common aperture, and all gratings share a single scan mechanism. High reliability is achieved through use of flight-proven hardware concepts and redundancy. The design controls the heat load into the SIRTF cryogen, with all heat sources other than the detectors operating at 7K and isolated from the 4K cold station. Two-dimensional area detector arrays are used in the 2.5-120.pm bands to simultaneously monitor adjacent regions in extended objects and to measure the background near point sources.
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