No, it's not another Mars rover. SPIRIT is an acronym standing for "Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope." In fact, it will consist of two telescopes moving back and forth on a 40-meter long beam, acting like cars on a space railway, according to this news release from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The images of the two telescopes will be combined by a fixed instrument located at the center of the beam. If everything goes well, the angular resolution of SPIRIT will be of only 1 second of arc, allowing for far more accurate exploration of distant stars and galaxies than ever before. However, the project still needs to be approved. If it is, in early 2005, SPIRIT will be launched around 2014. Read more...
Here is the introduction to this project by NASA.
SPIRIT will consist of two telescopes at opposite ends of a 120-foot (40-meter) beam. The telescopes will move along the beam like cars on a railway, combining their images using the techniques of interferometry to achieve the resolving power of a single giant telescope 120 feet across.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., will lead a NASA/university/industry team to develop a preliminary design for SPIRIT. The team will evaluate various mission concepts, create a roadmap of the technology development required for the mission, and generate independent cost assessments.
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Here is a rendering showing the two telescopes located on the end of a 40-meter beam. The telescopes will move on the beam and the central-beam instrument will combine their images (Credit: NASA). |
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A 10-meter diameter telescope such as the Spitzer Space Telescope has a resolution of about 20 seconds of arc while the future SPIRIT would have a far better resolution of only 1 second of arc, allowing it to distinguish individual galaxies. (Credits: NASA, Andrew Benson (University of Durham, United Kingdom), and the JWST Science Team (STScI)) |
But will it ever fly? SPIRIT is only one of the several projects NASA is looking at for the exploration of the origins of planets, stars, and galaxies.
The study was commissioned in July 2004 by NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., as one of nine proposals that will help strategic planning for NASA's Origins Space Science research theme. NASA's Origins program seeks to answer the fundamental questions about the universe, such as where we came from and whether or not we are alone. The team will report to the Origins Roadmap Committee in early January, 2005, and a final report is due three months later.
Please read the full news release to be reminded -- once again -- that "looking farther into space is equivalent to seeing back in time" and why. And let's move to 2014.
If approved, SPIRIT could be ready for launch in 2014, on board a large expendable rocket. SPIRIT would travel to the L2 liberation point one million miles from Earth where it will automatically unfold its beam and deploy the telescopes.
Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center news release, via ScienceDaily, October 11, 2004
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