UVA Astronomers Contributing to NASA's Plans for New Mission
A NASA mission to explore the history and evolution of the universe is advancing to the next phase of development, and a member of the University of Virginia’s Department of Astronomy has played a key role.
NASA announced on Sept. 24 that the PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) space telescope will be the first in a new class of NASA astrophysics missions, called Probe Explorers, within the agency’s longstanding Explorers Program. With its ultrasensitive technology, PRIMA will enable researchers to conduct deep, sensitive surveys of the universe in far-infrared light, helping bridge the gap between existing infrared observatories, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and radio telescopes.
Before joining UVA’s Department of Astronomy this fall, Professor Jason Glenn served as principal investigator for the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s PRIMA concept study — while working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. PRIMA’s cutting-edge detection technology will enable astronomers to access the far-infrared wavelengths that previously have been very difficult to explore.
During his six years at NASA, Glenn established strong collaborations to work together with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Goddard and Marshall Space Flight Centers and the international and U.S. industrial partners to realize PRIMA’s ambitious goals.
“PRIMA will dramatically change our understanding in several areas of fundamental contemporary astrophysics, such as the role of water in planet formation, when huge black holes grew in the centers of galaxies, and how and when cosmic dust formed,” Glenn said.
Taking UVA to the stars
With its announcement this week, NASA confirmed its decision to advance PRIMA into the detailed design and technology development phase of the mission. The mission is subject to a confirmation review, based on technical, programmatic and cost performance to determine its readiness to begin implementation. If confirmed, PRIMA’s project cost is capped at $1.2 billion, not including launch and other non-project costs. The observatory will be targeted to launch in 2033, for a planned five-year mission.
UVA plans to have graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and other faculty work with the superconducting detectors being developed for PRIMA, helping researchers understand their properties and determining which detectors are best suited for use in space.
The work represents a new direction for UVA astronomy. Glenn noted that the department has significant expertise in ground-based astrophysics but has not previously had a space-astrophysics program of this kind.
“I think UVA’s strengths in ground-based astronomy complement the work PRIMA will do,” Glenn said. “It will be exciting to see how the Department of Astronomy grows with this new work in space-based astronomy.”
A collaborative mission
By studying radiant energy that only emerges in the far-infrared, PRIMA will address a wide range of questions about the universe. This includes the origins of planets outside our solar system, how galaxies and their black holes have grown and evolved over cosmic history, and how dust and heavy elements have built up in the universe over time – all helping paint a better picture of why the universe looks the way it does today.
“A single mission alone can’t probe all the universe’s mysteries. But by extending the survey capabilities of our fleet into far-infrared wavelengths with PRIMA, we’re enabling an incredibly comprehensive look at the cosmos,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters. “With our Webb and Roman space telescopes, we set a cadence of launching premiere-class missions in both halves of the decade. We’re going to keep that up and kick off the next decade with PRIMA, as part of a pipeline that will consistently have missions of this caliber ready to go.”
UVA associate professor Ilse Cleeves, who is serving as a PRIMA Co-Investigator, says the probe will help them study how exoplanets form, how much water vapor is available during planet formation and how many are out there.
“We don't yet know whether most young stars are born with enough material to build a giant planet. PRIMA will answer that for hundreds of disks, a huge leap from our status quo of only three measurements, all from the Herschel Space Observatory more than a decade ago,” Cleeves said. “It will also trace water in gas and ice, a key ingredient for habitable worlds. Paired with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which reveals the broader molecular makeup of disks, PRIMA will show us how and what kinds of planets are made. And with the North American ALMA Science Center right here on UVA's Grounds, we're in an ideal place to do that work.”
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will manage the PRIMA mission. Other partners include NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The PRIMA mission also will have contributions from international partners: CNES (Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales), ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), CSA (Canadian Space Agency), KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)/KASA (Korea AeroSpace Administration), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and the UK Space Agency.
“PRIMA will give the community a powerful new way to study how galaxies, stars and planets form and evolve,” Glenn said. “It has the potential to answer questions we haven't even been able to ask before.”
