NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
Robotic Spacecraft (Astronomy, Planetary, Earth, Solar/Heliophysics) => Space Science Coverage => Topic started by: Chris Bergin on 06/15/2006 08:10 pm
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The world's largest airborne astronomical observatory has passed a
technical and programmatic review that could potentially lead to the
continuation of the mission.
NASA's Program Management Council concluded that there were no
insurmountable technical or programmatic challenges to the continued
development of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
(SOFIA). The agency has developed a technically viable plan to
proceed with the development of the SOFIA aircraft, subject to the
identification of appropriate funding offsets.
Earlier this year, the decision had been made to discontinue funding
in fiscal year 2007 as a result of technical, programmatic, and
budget challenges affecting the program. The NASA Program Management
Council is chaired by NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden and
comprised of NASA headquarters and center senior management.
"We placed the program on hold last February because of programmatic
and technical issues," said Geveden. "Since that time, we have
thoroughly reviewed the program and now are confident that SOFIA can
resolve those issues. However, it is not yet clear whether SOFIA
represents the best investment of space science funding, and we will
need to consider funding options and sources before we decide to
continue the mission."
SOFIA has been under development since 1996 as an airborne
astronomical observatory consisting of a 2.5-meter aperture telescope
permanently installed in a specially-modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
The aircraft, fitted with an open-port telescope provided through a
partnership with the German Aerospace Center, will provide routine
access to space observations in several parts of the spectrum beyond
what is visible to the eye.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
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First scientific flight for the SOFIA airborne observatory
1 December 2010
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), has commenced scientific operations. SOFIA took off on its first scientific observation flight on 30 November 2010 at 19:34 hrs local time, from the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, California. The subject of the night-time observations was the constellation of Orion, with its numerous, interesting star forming regions. The water vapour in Earth's atmosphere does not allow infrared light to pass through, making these observations carried out with SOFIA impossible from the ground.
http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/117_read-28014/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/
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I can't help but think of this when I see pictures of SOFIA:
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German instrument GREAT begins its scientific observations on board SOFIA
7 April 2011
On 6 April 2011, German scientists carried out their first astronomical observations on board the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA. A joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), SOFIA is the world's only operational airborne observatory.
http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-30074/
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Cool!
Das ist hervorragend.
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RELEASE: 12-114
NASA SELECTS SCIENCE INSTRUMENT UPGRADE FOR FLYING OBSERVATORY
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected a science instrument upgrade to the
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne
observatory. The instrument, the High-resolution Airborne Wideband
Camera (HAWC), will provide a sensitive, versatile and reliable
imaging capability to the SOFIA user community. The upgrade involves
two proposals that will allow the observatory to measure the
structure and strength of magnetic fields in diverse objects
throughout the universe, such as star-forming clouds and galaxies.
This will help astronomers better understand how stars, planets and
galaxies form and evolve.
SOFIA is a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that carries a
telescope with a 100-inch (2.5-meter) diameter reflecting mirror that
conducts astronomy research not possible with ground-based
telescopes. By operating in the stratosphere at altitudes up to
45,000 feet, SOFIA can make observations above the water vapor in
Earth's lower atmosphere.
"SOFIA has the ability to become a world-class airborne observatory
that complements the Hubble, Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes,"
said John Grunsfeld, NASA's Science Mission Directorate associate
administrator. "This upgrade will greatly broaden SOFIA's
capabilities."
Last August, the agency released an Announcement of Opportunity for
SOFIA second-generation instrument investigations and received 11
proposals. The selected proposals were judged to have the best
science value and feasible development plans.
The selected proposals are:
-- The High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera Polarization
(HAWC-Pol), Charles Dowell, principal investigator, NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. This investigation upgrades
the HAWC instrument to include the capability to make polarimetric
observations at far-infrared wavelengths. The investigation's main
goals are to measure the magnetic field in the interstellar medium,
star forming regions and the center of the Milky Way.
-- HAWC++, Johannes Staguhn, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. This
investigation will provide a sensitive, large-format detector array
to the HAWC-Pol investigation, increasing its observing efficiency
and providing a broader range of targets.
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center and
is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in
Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in
cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association,
headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the
University of Stuttgart.
For more information about the SOFIA program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
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RELEASE: 12-122
NASA'S SOFIA FEATURED IN THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SPECIAL EDITION
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- The Astrophysical Journal, a leading
professional astronomy research publication, will issue a special
edition of its Letters volume on April 20 with papers about
observations made with NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope.
SOFIA is a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that carries a
telescope with a 100-inch (2.5-meter) diameter reflecting mirror that
conducts astronomy research not possible with ground-based
telescopes. By operating in the stratosphere at altitudes up to
45,000 feet, SOFIA can make observations above the water vapor in
Earth's lower atmosphere.
"This is really SOFIA's debut on the world scientific stage," said
Chris Davis, SOFIA program scientist at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "World-class observatories such as the Hubble, Chandra
and Spitzer space telescopes had their Astrophysical Journal special
editions, and now SOFIA joins their prestigious ranks."
The eight SOFIA papers featured in the special edition cover diverse
research on topics including SOFIA's capabilities as a flying
observatory and its study of star formation in our galaxy and beyond.
"Studies of star and planet formation processes are one of SOFIA's
'sweet spots,'" said SOFIA Science Mission Director Erick Young.
"SOFIA's infrared instruments can see into the dense clouds where
stars and planets are forming and detect heat radiation from their
construction material. By getting above the Earth's atmospheric water
vapor layer that blocks most of the infrared band, SOFIA's telescope
can view the glow from forming stars at their strongest emission
wavelengths."
The infrared images analyzed in these papers were obtained with the
FORCAST (Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope)
instrument during SOFIA's first science observations in December
2010. Papers based on observations with SOFIA and the GREAT
spectrometer (German Receiver for Astronomy at THz Frequencies) will
be published in a May 2012 special volume of the European journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics.
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center and
is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in
Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in
cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association,
headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the
University of Stuttgart.
For more information about SOFIA, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
or
www.sofia.usra.edu
To view The Astrophysical Journal Letters containing the SOFIA papers,
visit:
http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/749/2
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SOFIA Gets Avionics and Mission Control Systems Upgrades
Published on Jan 2, 2013
DrydenTV
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home/index.html
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, has received major upgrades to its telescope control and avionics systems that will significantly improve their efficiency and operability. The upgrades enhance the pointing and tracking capabilities of the observatory's telescope control system, while the avionics upgrades allow the SOFIA to comply with current airspace regulations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJcNdYQjMa0
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SOFIA Observatory Conducts Night Checkout Flight
Published on Mar 25, 2013
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy flew a nighttime checkout flight over northern and central California the first week of March 2013 to conduct verification and validation of aircraft and telescope systems in preparation for instrument commissioning and the Cycle 1 astronomy flights scheduled for spring 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5G_wBBMcU
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April 16, 2013
RELEASE: 13-099
SOFIA OBSERVATIONS REVEAL A SURPRISE IN MASSIVE STAR FORMATION
WASHINGTON -- Researchers using the airborne Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have captured the most detailed
mid-infrared images yet of a massive star condensing within a dense
cocoon of dust and gas.
The star is G35.20-0.74, commonly known as G35. It is one of the most
massive known protostars and is located relatively close to Earth at
a distance of 8,000 light-years.
Until now, scientists expected the formation process of massive stars
would be complicated by the turbulent, chaotic environments in the
centers of new star clusters where they form. But observations of G35
suggest this giant star, more than 20 times the mass of our sun, is
forming by the same orderly process as do stars with the same mass as
the sun. Stars most like the sun are understood to form by simple,
symmetric collapse of interstellar clouds.
"The focus of our study has been to determine how massive stars
actually form," said Yichen Zhang of the University of Florida. Zhang
is lead author of a paper about the discovery published April 10 in
the Astrophysical Journal. "We thought the G35 protostar's structure
would be quite complicated, but instead we found it is simple, like
the cocoons of protostars with the sun's mass."
The observations of G35 were made in 2011 with a special camera aboard
SOFIA, a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that can carry a telescope
with an effective diameter of 100 inches (2.5 meters) to altitudes as
high as 45,000 feet (13,700 meters).
G35 was an ideal target for investigations because it is in an early
stage of development. But infrared light coming from G35 is so strong
it prevented infrared space telescopes from making detailed images.
Also, the protostar is embedded so deeply in its natal cloud that it
cannot be detected by optical telescopes observing from the ground at
visible wavelengths.
Flying high above the light-blocking water vapor in Earth's
atmosphere, the airplane-mounted Faint Object Infrared Camera for the
SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) enabled astronomers to see G35 where it
hides -- inside a dark, dense, interstellar dust cloud -- by
collecting infrared light escaping the cloud. Uniquely suited for
this work, FORCAST detected faint details next to bright structures
at wavelengths inaccessible to any other telescope on the ground or
in space.
"Massive stars, although rare, are important because there is evidence
they foster the formation of smaller stars like our sun, and because
at the ends of their lives they create and distribute chemical
elements that are the basic building blocks of Earth-like planets,"
said co-author James De Buizer, a SOFIA staff scientist with the
Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at NASA's Ames
Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
Images of G35 may be viewed on NASA's SOFIA site:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
Figures 1a and 1b show FORCAST images of G35 at wavelengths of 31 and
37 microns. Figures 2a and 2b respectively present G35 images
obtained by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Gemini-North
telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, also used in this study. Figure 3
shows computer model images intended to match characteristics of the
central regions of the images in figures 1a and 1b.
The model images show greatly simplified versions of what is revealed
especially in the SOFIA images: a luminous protostar heating a dense
interstellar cloud from the inside while simultaneously expelling
cone-shaped jets of gas toward the tops and bottoms of the frames.
The top outflow cone appears brighter because it is directed toward
us and there is less obscuring material along the line of sight.
The high resolution of the images showcases the capability of modern
infrared detector arrays when used on an airborne platform and gives
scientists hope that data gathered in this way substantially will
advance their understanding of the Milky Way galaxy.
FORCAST was built by a team led by Terry Herter of Cornell University
in Ithica, N.Y. Co-authors of the Astrophysics Journal paper include
scientists from the University of Florida in Gainesville; University
of Wisconsin in Madison; University of California at Berkeley;
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; the Arcetri Observatory in
Florence, Italy; and the USRA SOFIA science staff at Ames.
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
SOFIA is based and managed at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations
Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett
Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in
cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the
University of Stuttgart.
For links to USRA and the German SOFIA Institute, visit NASA's SOFIA
site and click on "SOFIA Science Center."
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BUDGET 2015: Flying SOFIA Telescope To Be Shelved For ‘Higher-Priority’ Programs Like Cassini
http://www.universetoday.com/110007/budget-2015-flying-sofia-telescope-to-be-shelved-for-higher-priority-programs-like-cassini/
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From here:
http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/39813nasa-budget-justification-details-delays-descopes-and-cancellations
NASA’s budget justification expands on the reasons it gave the week of March 4 for canceling the $1.1 billion Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, saying the telescope-equipped jetliner’s “contributions to astronomical science will be significantly less than originally envisioned.”
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The same could quite easily be said for a certain massively overbudget telescope named after a NASA administrator.
Cancelling active programs to cover the overruns of future ones is a rather destructive long-term policy.
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The same could quite easily be said for a certain massively overbudget telescope named after a NASA administrator.
No. There is a massive difference: SOFIA is at the bottom of everybody's priority list. And it actually costs a lot to operate for a telescope that returns relatively little science. JWST, however, is a top priority science instrument. If you put 100 astronomers in a room and asked them which was the more important project, you would get 99 raising their hands for JWST (and 1 guy busy scratching an itch).
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PARIS — Germany remains hopeful of persuading NASA to reverse a decision to retire the U.S.-German SOFIA airborne infrared telescope in September as a cost-saving measure even as the plane, after two decades of development, only now enters fully operational status, the head of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, said March 19.
In an interview, Johann-Dietrich Woerner said negotiations with NASA over SOFIA’s future have taken on an additional urgency because the modified Boeing 747 aircraft will require a substantial maintenance check in June.
It makes no sense to perform the maintenance, to occur in Germany, if the SOFIA mission is going to be ended at the end of the U.S. government’s current fiscal year in September, Woerner said.
NASA has informed DLR that, due to budget pressures and the need to perform triage among valuable in-service missions, SOFIA will not receive NASA support after September.
http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/39919germany-hasn’t-given-up-on-persuading-nasa-to-keep-sofia-flying (http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/39919germany-hasn’t-given-up-on-persuading-nasa-to-keep-sofia-flying)
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http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/40004house-science-committee-questions-decision-to-cancel-sofia
Members of the House Science Committee pressed President Obama’s science adviser Wednesday (March 26) for an explanation why the administration’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal seeks to cancel the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), and indicated there was bipartisan interest in keeping the program alive.
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April 1, 2014
NASA Begins Search for Potential SOFIA Partners
NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) Monday soliciting potential partners interested in using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft for scientific investigations or for other potential uses.
NASA's Fiscal Year 2015 budget request to Congress calls for SOFIA to be placed in storage next year unless the agency's contribution to the project can be replaced.
Various partnership levels will be considered. Partnerships can range from joining as a major partner to securing flights on a night-by-night basis. Costs are estimated at approximately $1 million per night for a dedicated mission. Due to the current budget situation, partnership arrangements would be initiated immediately in order to be in place prior to Oct. 1. Potential partners are invited to submit their interest or questions in writing as soon as possible, but prior to May 1.
The RFI is available at:
http://go.nasa.gov/1jvKupw
The SOFIA team will conduct an Industry Day April 11 at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center Bldg. 703 in Palmdale, Calif., to provide detailed information to potential partners and the media. Representatives can meet with the SOFIA program staff and take a tour of the aircraft. A number of briefings will be given on SOFIA's science program, the aircraft, its operational and life-cycle costs, as well as potential partnership mechanisms.
Parties interested in participating in the SOFIA Industry Day are requested to make reservations by contacting Beth Hagenauer at 661-276-7960 or [email protected] by noon PDT on April 9 to reserve a space and learn of security requirements.
SOFIA is the world's largest airborne astronomical observatory, complementing NASA's space telescopes, as well as major Earth-based telescopes. It features a German-built far-infrared telescope with an effective diameter of 100-inches (2.5 meters). The telescope weighs 19 tons (38,000 lb.) and is mounted in the rear fuselage of a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft.
Flying at altitudes of between 39,000 to 45,000 feet (12 – 14 kilometers) and above 99 percent of the water vapor in the atmosphere, SOFIA facilitates observations that are unobtainable from telescopes on the ground. Because SOFIA can fly virtually anywhere in the world, change instruments between flights, and implement new capabilities, it provides greater adaptability than any space-based telescope.
SOFIA is a joint program of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt). The program is managed and the aircraft is based at Armstrong Flight Research Center. NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., manages SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association in Columbia, Md., and the Deutsches SOFIA Institute in Stuttgart, Germany.
This is not a request for proposal or formal procurement and therefore is not a solicitation. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the government to issue an invitation for bid, request for proposal, request for quote, or contract.
For more information about NASA's SOFIA aircraft, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
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And as reported:
http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/40071nasa-open-to-renting-sofia-for-1-million-a-night
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And as reported: http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/40071nasa-open-to-renting-sofia-for-1-million-a-night
Sounds like Indecent Proposal. Who'll be Robert Redford? "NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) Monday soliciting potential partners" - NASA.gov "Potential partners are invited to submit their interest or questions in writing as soon as possible, but prior to May 1." - SpaceNews
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Press release, 13 May 2014
Tracing the birth of stars in the Orion Nebula with FIFI-LS - New infrared spectrometer from Germany on SOFIA, the airborne observatory
Full article with images:
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/presse/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10172/213_read-10227/year-all/#gallery/14633
During its first scientific flight, the new infrared spectrometer FIFI-LS (Field-Imaging Far-Infrared Line Spectrometer) investigated the birth of young stars
in the Orion Nebula and nine other celestial regions. The instrument, carried on board the airborne observatory SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy) operated by the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), gathered important data on
the formation of stars while simultaneously proving its suitability for this type of mission. This means that a second German instrument has successfully entered
its operational phase on board SOFIA, in addition to the far-infrared spectrometer GREAT.
For stars to form, molecular clouds must cool
The Orion Nebula is located in the Milky Way at a distance of roughly 1300 light years from Earth. This celestial region is particularly interesting to science
because it is one of the galaxy's most active star forming regions. The scientists used FIFI-LS specifically to analyse the Becklin Neugebauer Object – a stellar
nursery containing both young stars and dense gas in which new stars are being created. For this to happen, the hot gas in the region must cool from an initial
temperature of around 100 Kelvin (-173 degrees Celsius) to roughly 10 Kelvin (-263 degrees Celsius) – only then does the pressure within the cloud drop sufficiently
to allow condensation to occur and stars to form.
Elements such as oxygen and carbon promote this cooling by radiating heat from inside the cloud to the exterior. Leslie Looney, the project's senior scientist
from the University of Illinois, wants to find out, in detail, how this process works: "At very specific far-infrared wavelengths, oxygen and carbon radiate
a substantial portion of the thermal energy found in the cloud, and FIFI-LS is perfectly equipped to detect this." SOFIA is currently the only observatory that
enables investigations at these far-infrared wavelengths.
In addition, FIFI-LS observed nine other infrared objects, including the centre of the Milky Way, during the three scientific flights held on 21, 23 and 25 April
2014. "With FIFI-LS, one of the most modern far-infrared spectrometers is now fitted on board SOFIA," says Alois Himmes, SOFIA Project Manager at DLR. "Together
with GREAT and four other NASA spectrometers and cameras, the scientists currently have six instruments with which they can study the infrared skies."
FIFI-LS was delivered to Palmdale, California, the home base of the SOFIA airborne observatory, back in November 2013, where it was prepared for its first mission.
Two successful test flights were held at the beginning of March and mid-April 2014, during which scientists, engineers and technicians put the spectrometer's
functionality and performance through an extensive series of tests.
FIFI-LS was initially developed and built at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, near Munich, and from 2012 the Institute
of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart under the direction of Alfred Krabbe. The Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI), based at the University of Stuttgart,
coordinates the airborne observatory's German operations.
SOFIA
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a joint project of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the US National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). The German component of the SOFIA programme is being carried out under the auspices of DLR with funds from the Federal Ministry of Economic
Affairs and Energy, the State of Baden-Württemberg and the University of Stuttgart. The development of the German instruments is funded by the Max Planck Society
(MPG), the German Research Foundation (DFG) and DLR. Scientific operations are coordinated on the German side by the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University
of Stuttgart, and on the American side of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
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One can sorta see how this is going to play out. One thing that I don't think has been well-reported is the relative lack of outcry from the U.S. astronomy community. They don't value SOFIA very highly, and if they were asked, they would probably say so. OMB initiated the SOFIA action and if they had thought it out, they might have tried to use that lack of support to better advantage. So if they're serious about killing SOFIA, that's an obvious thing for them to try and do.
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June 3, 2014
NASA Begins Testing of New Spectrograph on Agency's Airborne Observatory
Astronomers are eagerly waiting to begin use of a new instrument to study celestial objects: a high-resolution, mid-infrared spectrograph mounted on NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the world's largest flying telescope.
This new instrument, the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (EXES), can separate wavelengths of light to a precision of one part in 100,000. At the core of EXES is an approximately 3-foot (1 meter) bar of aluminum called an echelon grating, carefully machined to act as 130 separate mirrors that split light from the telescope into an infrared "rainbow."
SOFIA is a heavily modified Boeing 747 Special Performance jetliner that carries a telescope with an effective diameter of about 8-feet (2.5-meters) at altitudes of 39,000 to 45,000 feet (12 to 14 km), above more than 99 percent of Earth's atmospheric water vapor. Lower in the atmosphere, at altitudes associated with most ground-based observatories, water vapor obscures much of what can be learned when viewed in the infrared spectrum.
"The combination of EXES's high spectral resolution and SOFIA's access to infrared radiation from space provides an unprecedented ability to study celestial objects at wavelengths unavailable from ground-based telescopes," said Pamela Marcum, a program scientist at the SOFIA Science Center and Program Office in Moffett Field, California. "EXES on SOFIA will provide data that cannot be obtained by any other astronomical facility on the ground or in space, including all past, present or those observatories now under development."
EXES successfully carried out its first two flights on SOFIA on the nights of April 7 and 9, according to Matthew Richter, leader of the team that is developing the instrument at the University of California, Davis, Physics Department. EXES is a collaboration between U.C. Davis and NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field.
"During the two flights, EXES made observations to investigate and characterize the instrument's performance. All the main goals of these observations were successful, although further commissioning flights are required to test EXES in all of its modes," said Richter.
On the first commissioning flight, EXES observed emissions from Jupiter's atmosphere in two molecular hydrogen lines. These observations will be used to understand how gas rises from deep in Jupiter's interior and mixes into the planet's upper atmosphere.
During the second commissioning flight, EXES observed a young, massive star in the constellation Cygnus that is still embedded in its natal cocoon. The star, known as AFGL 2591, warms up the surrounding interstellar dust and causes ice coatings on the dust to evaporate. The warmed dust provides an excellent background infrared "lamp" to probe the chemical make-up of the intervening gas.
New stars and planets are forming from that material through processes similar to the ones that made the sun and Earth. These observations are designed to study water vapor around the protostar, and demonstrate that EXES can detect absorption from the lowest energy level of water molecules despite interference from water vapor from Earth's atmosphere.
"Of the observations obtained during the instrument's first flights, only one can be done from the ground, albeit with some difficulty, and the others are impossible from even the best ground-based telescope sites because the water in Earth's atmosphere is opaque at these wavelengths," Richter said. "While space observatories are above Earth's atmosphere, the massive optical equipment required to separate the light as finely as EXES does – EXES weighs almost 1,000 pounds – would be a challenge to launch into space. In these observations, the spectral features we are studying are narrow, and finely dividing the infrared spectrum to detect them is exactly what EXES was designed to do."
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The aircraft is based at and the program is managed from NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's facility in Palmdale, California. NASA's Ames Research Center, manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart.
For more information about SOFIA, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
or
http://www.dlr.de/en/sofia
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I didn't see this reported at the time, but the House Report to accompany H.R. 4660 (Commerce, Justic, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill , 2015) made the following comment on SOFIA (page 71):
"The Committee does not accept NASA’s request to terminate support for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a project that is currently producing good science and has not been proposed for termination by NASA’s internal or external scientific review boards. Instead, the recommendation provides $70,000,000 for SOFIA, which should be sufficient to support the aircraft’s fixed costs (flight crews, required maintenance, etc.) as well as a base level of scientific observations. NASA shall continue seeking third-party partners whose additional funding support would restore SOFIA’s budget to its full operational level."
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113hrpt448/pdf/CRPT-113hrpt448-pt1.pdf (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113hrpt448/pdf/CRPT-113hrpt448-pt1.pdf)
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Super-Earth or mini-Neptune? Planetary researcher uses SOFIA to observe exoplanet transit
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10252/356_read-10712/#gallery/15230
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Press release, 28 June 2014
The SOFIA airborne observatory has landed in Hamburg
Full article with images:
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/presse/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10172/213_read-10778/year-all/#/gallery/15435
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified Boeing 747SP, is a joint project of the US Space Agency, NASA, and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und
Raumfahrt; DLR). It is normally stationed at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, but at 08:44 CEST on Saturday, 28 June 2014, it landed at Hamburg Airport. From now until the beginning
of November, both the aircraft and its telescope will be undergoing extensive maintenance at the Hamburg facilities of Lufthansa Technik. "This is how DLR will fulfil part of its 20 percent contribution
towards the operating costs of the observatory," explains Alois Himmes, the SOFIA Project Manager at DLR.
DLR and NASA have selected Lufthansa Technik for the overhaul of the aircraft because they have the world's longest and most extensive experience with maintaining aircraft of this type. "There were 45
Boeing 747SPs built, 18 of which are still in use. Boeing itself, however, no longer supports this aircraft type," Himmes adds. US-based companies with a license for extensive maintenance and repair do
not have comparable experience. The previous US operators of this aircraft, Pan Am, who brought the aircraft into service as 'Clipper Lindbergh' in 1977, and United Airlines, who purchased the plane in
1986, also no longer perform maintenance on this type of aircraft, and, as they are no longer operating the 747SP, they have let their licenses lapse. The 747SP – 'SP' stands for 'Special Performance'
– has a much shorter fuselage but the same power; these aircraft can therefore fly significantly higher than other versions, at altitudes of up to between 12 and 14 kilometres.
Observatory can detect infrared radiation and study how stars are formed
Now, the old 'Jumbo' performs pioneering work again; SOFIA is a globally unique airborne observatory, which, since 2010, has made around 90 scientific flights to study, among other things, the development
of galaxies and how stars and planetary systems are formed from molecular and dust clouds.
Installed in the fuselage is a 17-ton telescope, developed in Germany and commissioned by the DLR Space Administration, with a mirror diameter of 2.7 metres. A total of six scientific instruments are
currently in use, including the GREAT spectrometer and FIFI-LS, which are operated by German scientists. "In contrast to space observatories, continuously improved or even newly developed instruments
can be used and the latest technology can be implemented on SOFIA. This airborne observatory performs almost like a space observatory, but it returns to Earth after each flight," Himmes elaborates. Because
SOFIA flies in the stratosphere, above the water vapour in the atmosphere, it can observe infrared radiation with virtually no losses. Ground-based telescopes are not able to measure this radiation from
space, as the water vapour blocks most of the infrared radiation.
The telescope will also be maintained
The German SOFIA Institute (Deutsche SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart has been charged with the coordination of the DLR operating contribution. While the aircraft is undergoing its
overhaul in Hamburg, DSI personnel will take the opportunity to also perform thorough maintenance on the telescope. "We will replace worn parts and improve its functionality," says DSI Director Thomas
Keilig. "We certainly look forward to a fruitful cooperation with our Lufthansa Technik colleagues." Although the aircraft is on the ground, the scientific work will not stop; 18 July 2014 is the deadline
for applications for astronomical observation time during the third science cycle, scheduled to begin in March 2015. In parallel, the data from science flights conducted in 2013 are being evaluated and
submitted for publication. The results from the first observation cycle in 2011 have already been extensively published.
Numerous special features
For Lufthansa Technik, this task is somewhat unusual: "Because SOFIA is not a commercial airliner, but an airborne observatory, there are special operations involved, as well as routine procedures," says
Sven Hatje, the Project Manager responsible for the SOFIA overhaul programme. In five phases – arrival, inspection, modification, installation and acceptance – the engineers will place SOFIA 'under the
microscope' over the coming months. The specifications of the aircraft also influence its treatment in the maintenance facility: "We must, for example, first lift SOFIA to a height of six metres to replace
the landing gear. The rear of the aircraft is, with its weight of 48 tons, too heavy for conventional lifting methods. This is why we will have to jack SOFIA up with five instead of three lifters. For
this, we have to obtain a special permit." In addition, the research aircraft not only has modified cockpit electronics and very extensive additional electronic systems, but also – and this is really
unique – a roughly four by six metre door in the fuselage, which opens when the telescope is performing observations.
Looking to the future, Eddie Zavala, SOFIA Program Manager at NASA says: "On May 29, 2014, we formally completed the development phase and NASA declared SOFIA fully operational. After the overhaul here
in Hamburg, SOFIA will be resuming operations in 2015 with approximately 100 planned observation flights per year for many years to come and it will be a unique scientific tool for infrared astronomers."
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NASA's Office of Inspector General has just published an Audit report on SOFIA.
SOFIA: NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Audit Report OIG-14-022 July 9, 2014
Overview
In February 2014, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) reached full operational capability (FOC) after a problematic 23-year development history and a cost of $1.1 billion – more than 300 percent over original estimates (see Figure 1).1 The SOFIA Program’s $3 billion life-cycle cost estimate, which includes a planned 20-year operational life and annual operating costs of approximately $80 million (equating to an annual operating cost of about $104,000 per planned research flight hour), makes it one of the most expensive programs in NASA’s science portfolio.2 While the Program achieved FOC ahead of schedule (per the latest replan) and SOFIA has recently begun to collect science data, maintaining user interest is critical to the Program’s viability for the next 20 years.3 More pressing for the Program is the uncertainty caused by the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget proposal that would place SOFIA in storage for an undefined period unless NASA identifies partners to help subsidize operating costs.4
[…]
Given SOFIA’s troubled development history and projected $2 billion in operational costs over the next 20 years, we assessed whether NASA is adequately managing the Program to ensure long-term demand for and viability of the observatory. Our audit work included reviewing SOFIA Program policies and procedures, interviewing Program officials, and observing a science flight.9 We also interviewed scientists who have used SOFIA to conduct research, as well as scientists whose proposals were not selected for a flight. Details of the audit’s scope and methodology are in Appendix A.
Results
• If Continued, the SOFIA Program Faces Challenges to Ensure the Best Possible Return on Investment
• Organizational Structure Does Not Provide Adequate Oversight of Mission Critical Functions
• Uncertainty Surrounding SOFIA’s Future Funding has Immediate Ramifications on the Program
[and on the last point notes the following … ]
"The President’s FY 2015 budget proposal for NASA would sharply reduce funding for SOFIA and place the observatory in storage unless partners help subsidize NASA’s share of the Program’s $80 million annual operating costs. In contrast, the full House of Representatives approved $70 million and the Senate Committee on Appropriations proposed $87 million for SOFIA in FY 2015. In this period of uncertainty, the Program must address a series of immediate challenges, including whether and how to plan for a Program shutdown and possible reactivation, how to retain key staff, and whether to move forward with planned research and maintenance activities."
http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY14/IG-14-022.pdf (http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY14/IG-14-022.pdf)
(copy also attached)
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I knew Sofia was over-budget. But it is actually 300% over budget? In other words: to come to the point where it is today (FOC) it cost four times the amount originally estimated? Ouch...
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SOFIA Observatory Hosts Oregon, Washington Educators
Published on Jul 31, 2014
Kim Abegglen and Anna-Melissa Lyons from Hockinson Middle School, Vancouver, Washington, Robert Black from North Medford High School and Dave Bloomsness from the Southern Oregon Skywatchers, Medford, Oregon, flew on board NASA's Stratospheric observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) in May 2014. The educators observed SOFIA scientists studying star forming regions and a unique stellar merger during the flight. Follow along as they see infrared astronomy in action.
In 2014, 12 two-person teams were competitively selected for SOFIA's Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program, representing teachers from 10 states. After their flight opportunities, Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors will take what they learn back to their classrooms and into their communities to promote science literacy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB2XyutVrxU
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Recent update on SOFIA Science to the NASA Advisory Committee (NAC) Astrophysics Subcommittee on August 12, 2014.
http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2014/09/02/APS-SOFIA-Aug2014-PMarcum-FINTAGGED.pdf (http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2014/09/02/APS-SOFIA-Aug2014-PMarcum-FINTAGGED.pdf)
(copy also attached)
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Press release, 19 November 2014
Age of star nursery precisely determined for the first time - SOFIA airborne observatory helps with accurate dating
How long does it take for a star to be born? To date, only this much has been clear: longer than there have been humans on Earth with the technology to observe it. But the precise age of a star-forming cloud has now been determined by a team under
the leadership of scientists at the University of Cologne using the GREAT spectrometer on board the SOFIA airborne observatory. SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, is operated jointly by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches
Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the US space agency NASA. The results of the research conducted have now been published in the scientific journal Nature.
For their research, the scientists studied the IRAS 16293-2422 star-forming region, which is around 400 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The astonishing result is that the age of star-forming dense cores is of at least one
million years – much longer than previous theories suggested. This model must now be verified. "Life as we know it is closely linked to the formation of stars and planetary systems. Hence, the exact processes involved in star formation are of fundamental
importance in the investigation of the development of life on Earth," says Alois Himmes, DLR SOFIA project leader. "With its modern instruments, SOFIA has the best resources for making more ground-breaking discoveries in the coming years."
Hydrogen molecules act as 'chemical clock'
To determine the age of the interstellar cloud cores, the researchers used a new method in which they combined data from the GREAT receiver (German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies) on SOFIA with that from the APEX telescope in Chile.
In doing so, they used various forms of hydrogen as timepieces. Specifically, hydrogen was observed in the form of ortho and para H2D+ ions to do this. The ratio of these two variants to each other changes in a characteristic way as the period of star
birth varies. This means that the scientists can read the concentration of molecules as a kind of chemical clock.
APEX provided the data on the ortho hydrogen, and GREAT recorded the spectral lines of the para hydrogen variant. The latter is particularly hard to measure on Earth as the atmosphere almost completely absorbs this radiation: "It was only possible
to detect the first clear evidence thanks to the unique qualities of our GREAT instrument on board the SOFIA airborne observatory," says Juergen Stutzki, whose research department at the University of Cologne made a significant contribution to the
construction of GREAT.
The research work, in which scientists from the University of Helsinki and the Max Planck Institutes for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching participated, was published in the online edition of Nature on 17 November 2014
(the print version comes out on December 4).
SOFIA
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, is a joint project operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The German contribution
to the project is managed by DLR, using funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economics Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium fuer Wirtschaft und Energie), in accordance with a decision made by the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag), and funds
from the State of Baden-Württemberg and the University of Stuttgart. The scientific operations are coordinated by the German SOFIA Institute (Deutsche SOFIA Institut; DSI) on the German side, and by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
on the American side. Development of the German instruments is financed using funds from the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG).
GREAT
GREAT, the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies, is a receiver for spectroscopic observations in the far-infrared spectral regime at frequencies between 1.2 and 5 terahertz (60–220 microns), which are not accessible from the ground
due to absorption by water vapour. GREAT is one of two first generation German instruments for SOFIA developed by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) and the University of Cologne, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for
Solar System Research and the DLR Institute of Planetary Research. Rolf Güsten (MPIfR) is the project manager for GREAT. The development of the instrument was financed by the participating institutes, the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation
(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) and DLR.
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SOFIA Lives!
From Space.com's reporting (http://www.space.com/27998-nasa-18-billion-omnibus-spending-bill.html).
"NASA's astrophysics program won a $77.5 million increase, to $684.8 million, in the omnibus bill. That includes $70 million for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, an airborne telescope for which NASA requested only $12 million. NASA had planned to mothball the flying observatory in 2015 if it could not find partners to fund the telescope's annual operating cost of about $85 million."
From press release, 28 June 2014
The 747SP – 'SP' stands for 'Special Performance'
– has a much shorter fuselage but the same power; these aircraft can therefore fly significantly higher than other versions, at altitudes of up to between 12 and 14 kilometres.
BTW, I saw a 747 SP sitting on the ramp in Johannesburg back in 2007. It was a "WTF is THAT?!?" moment when I saw this all white 747 which was obviously suffering from dwarfism...
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I think the program's days are numbered. From what I hear, there is very little support for SOFIA within the astronomy community. It doesn't do much science, what it does is not high value, and it costs a lot of money. Keeping a big four-engine jet flying requires a lot of people and fuel, and that's an expense that other observatories don't have.
The primary problem this time has been that the administration simply tried to kill it without: A-explaining why they wanted to kill it, and B-getting community support for their action.* There are ways to do both of those things and it would not surprise me to see them make that effort soon. It may take a few years in the meantime to do that.
*This kinda stuff happens all the time. Somebody, maybe NASA, maybe the White House, simply decides to do something and never bothers to actually set the stage. They think that they don't need to explain what they're doing or seek allies for their actions. Look at the 2010 rollout of the FY2011 budget which killed Constellation, Orion, Ares I and V, etc. They found themselves scrambling after the fact to try and explain what they were trying to achieve, and by that time they didn't really have any allies, only enemies. It's just rather amazing that this keeps happening. The steps are simple: have somebody (like the president) give a speech, issue a white paper explaining the policy, and maybe commission a study that will hopefully support your actions. Prepare the battlefield before you open fire.
If that's the case what was the point of the program in the first place. Someone at some point must have thought it was a worthwhile idea.
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I think the program's days are numbered. From what I hear, there is very little support for SOFIA within the astronomy community. It doesn't do much science, what it does is not high value, and it costs a lot of money. Keeping a big four-engine jet flying requires a lot of people and fuel, and that's an expense that other observatories don't have. [...]
If that's the case what was the point of the program in the first place. Someone at some point must have thought it was a worthwhile idea.
May be it was totally over budget, may be the ones that thought this was worthwhile were not final users.
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If that's the case what was the point of the program in the first place. Someone at some point must have thought it was a worthwhile idea.
It took too long to get into service. Other systems have passed it by. If it had flown when it was originally supposed to fly, it would have performed science that no other mission was doing. That's not the case anymore. Look up the original planned operational date and compare to what we got.
Plus--and this is a more subtle and complex point--you have to look at these systems in terms of how they fit into a much bigger portfolio. They cannot be evaluated in isolation. Other things might be more important, or more productive.
EDIT: Let me add a bit to that last point. NASA is spending approximately $70 million a year on SOFIA. The question that has to be asked and answered is if that money could be more productively spent on something else. Could another telescope project produce much more valuable science for that $70 million? I think that if you polled a bunch of astronomers the answer would probably be yes. I don't have great information to back that up, but it's the sense that I've gotten.
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Sofia departs Hamburg airport on December 14
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March 19, 2015
NASA’s SOFIA Finds Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation
Using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an international scientific team discovered that supernovae are capable of producing a substantial amount of the material from which planets like Earth can form.
These findings are published in the March 19 online issue of Science magazine.
"Our observations reveal a particular cloud produced by a supernova explosion 10,000 years ago contains enough dust to make 7,000 Earths," said Ryan Lau of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
The research team, headed by Lau, used SOFIA's airborne telescope and the Faint Object InfraRed Camera for the SOFIA Telescope, FORCAST, to take detailed infrared images of an interstellar dust cloud known as Supernova Remnant Sagittarius A East, or SNR Sgr A East.
The team used SOFIA data to estimate the total mass of dust in the cloud from the intensity of its emission. The investigation required measurements at long infrared wavelengths in order to peer through intervening interstellar clouds and detect the radiation emitted by the supernova dust.
Astronomers already had evidence that a supernova’s outward-moving shock wave can produce significant amounts of dust. Until now, a key question was whether the new soot- and sand-like dust particles would survive the subsequent inward “rebound” shock wave generated when the first, outward-moving shock wave collides with surrounding interstellar gas and dust.
"The dust survived the later onslaught of shock waves from the supernova explosion, and is now flowing into the interstellar medium where it can become part of the 'seed material' for new stars and planets," Lau explained.
These results also reveal the possibility that the vast amount of dust observed in distant young galaxies may have been made by supernova explosions of early massive stars, as no other known mechanism could have produced nearly as much dust.
"This discovery is a special feather in the cap for SOFIA, demonstrating how observations made within our own Milky Way galaxy can bear directly on our understanding of the evolution of galaxies billions of light years away," said Pamela Marcum, a SOFIA project scientist at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
SOFIA is a heavily modified Boeing 747 Special Performance jetliner that carries a telescope with an effective diameter of 100 inches (2.5 meters) at altitudes of 39,000 to 45,000 feet (12 to 14 km). SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. The aircraft observatory is based at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center facility in Palmdale, California. The agency’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, is home to the SOFIA Science Center, which is managed by NASA in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
For more information about SOFIA, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
or
http://www.dlr.de/en/sofia
For information about SOFIA's science mission and scientific instruments, visit:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu
or
http://www.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de/index.en.html
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Press release, 4 June 2015
upGREAT – a new far-infrared spectrometer for SOFIA
Full article with images:
http://www.dlr.de/dlr/presse/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10172/213_read-13794/year-all/#/gallery/19610
The upgraded far-infrared spectrometer upGREAT has successfully completed its first deployment on board the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint project between the US Space Agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches
Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). During four commissioning flights from its home base in Palmdale, California, conducted between 13 and 22 May 2015, upGREAT showed unprecedented efficiency in analysing the origins of carbon radiation from interstellar
gas and dust clouds. "We are delighted with the quality of the measurements," says upGREAT Project Manager Christophe Risacher from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), adding: "Although the main purpose was to use a variety of test
measurements to complete commissioning, these initial observations will give us a wealth of new insight into stellar evolution."
upGREAT is an enhanced version of the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT), a far-infrared spectrometer that has successfully completed 50 scientific flights on board SOFIA since 2011. The instrument was developed and built
by a consortium of German research institutes – MPIfR in Bonn and the Kölner Observatorium fuer SubMillimeter Astronomie (KOSMA) in Cologne – in collaboration with the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin. But upGREAT now operates 14 – not
just one - detectors simultaneously. These are spread over two arrays – each holding seven detectors whose sensitivity has also been enhanced by approximately 30 percent. "Although only four years have passed since GREAT's first mission, upGREAT delivers
an observational efficiency that is approximately 20 times greater. This clearly demonstrates the immense development potential for airborne observatories in comparison to space telescopes, whose instruments cannot be replaced in most cases," explains
DLR SOFIA Project Manager Alois Himmes. But the development comes at a price; the detectors must be operated at extremely low temperatures – just a few degrees above absolute zero. While it only took a single cryostat filled with liquid helium to operate
a single detector for 24 hours, this is not feasible with 14 detectors. For this reason, upGREAT is using cryocoolers for the first time; their operating principle is quite similar to ordinary refrigerators. Developed and integrated into the aircraft
in recent months by engineers at NASA, the GREAT team and German SOFIA Institute, this system worked perfectly on its first mission.
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Press release, 19 June 2015
SOFIA starts science flights in New Zealand - DLR and NASA's airborne observatory on an observation mission in the southern hemisphere
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint project between the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), started the first observation flight of this
year's New Zealand campaign on 19 June 2015 at 09:20 CEST (19:20 local time). Over the coming five weeks, SOFIA will conduct 14 research flights using the US Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA telescope (FORCAST) and the German
Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT), a far-infrared spectrometer. The scientists will focus mainly on star-forming regions in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. Together with two other instruments
and one of the camera viewfinders of the telescope, a stellar occultation by the dwarf planet Pluto will also be observed.
The airborne observatory departed from its home base in Palmdale, California, on 12 June, heading for Hawaii, where the aircraft made a four-hour stopover to refuel and switch the flight crew. The scientists on board made good use of the
seven-hour night flight, employing the FORCAST instrument to observe gas and dust clouds in the galactic centre – at the heart of the Milky Way. The flight from Honolulu to Christchurch took another 10 hours. On arrival, a group of excited
plane spotters had already gathered to welcome SOFIA. An over 100-strong team, including scientists, pilots, a maintenance crew and telescope operators, will be responsible for conducting the measurement campaign, which is scheduled to
run until 20 July.
SOFIA and the New Horizons spacecraft on the track of Pluto
To ensure that this SOFIA mission proves as successful as its predecessors, it has received some 'help from above'. A representative from the Māori Ngāi Tahu tribe brought a blessing from New Zealand's indigenous population for a successful
outcome of this year's campaign. This year's operations will be particularly exciting; in the early morning of 29 June, at around 05:00 local time, a stellar occultation by the dwarf planet Pluto will be observed. The First Light Infrared
TEst CAMera (FLITECAM), the High Speed Imaging Photometer for Occultations (HIPO) and one of the telescope's acquisition/guidance/tracking cameras (the Focal Plane Imager [FPI]) will observe how the light from a background star is diminished
as the occultation occurs and then increases again. This will allow the scientists to draw conclusions about the atmosphere of Pluto. However, for this purpose, excellent timing is required, because the shadow of Pluto will only be approximately
2000 kilometres across and will be moving across the South Pacific at 80,000 kilometres per hour.
The fact that the NASA New Horizons spacecraft will pass Pluto at a distance of approximately 12,000 kilometres just two weeks later, on 14 July, adds a particular touch of interest to observing this phenomenon. New Horizons will employ
a number of instruments to inspect Pluto close-up for the first time. These rather short observations of the dwarf planet will be included in the long-term research into Pluto’s atmosphere, along with the data that will be acquired by
SOFIA.
Following the exciting Pluto occultation, SOFIA will initially continue its astronomical observations with FORCAST. Afterwards, the team will use the final two weeks of the mission to deploy the GREAT spectrometer developed by scientists
at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. Here, as in its July 2013 mission, SOFIA will exploit the long winter nights in New Zealand and the low concentration of atmospheric water vapour found at this time of the year to
conduct its observations. Even the tiniest quantities of airborne water vapour absorb a portion of the infrared radiation entering the atmosphere from space. This is also the reason why the analyses are conducted from an aircraft travelling
at an altitude of around 14 kilometres, where the atmospheric water vapour content above it is substantially lower than on the ground.
During the research flights, the scientists will place particular focus on the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These two 'dwarf galaxies' – immediate neighbours of the Milky Way – can only be observed from the southern hemisphere. The
star-forming regions are located approximately 200,000 light years from Earth. The scientists can use their infrared instruments to observe the entire cycle of stellar birth at this distance. Their aim is to add to the data they collected
during the first New Zealand mission in 2013 and to analyse further celestial regions. The mission is being supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which bases its Antarctic Research Programme at Christchurch Airport and
has generously allowed SOFIA to make use of its infrastructure. SOFIA is scheduled to return to Palmdale on 24 July, following another stopover in Hawaii.
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Nichelle Nichols onboard a recent flight of SOFIA.
http://www.blastr.com/2015-9-17/image-day-nichelle-nichols-takes-skies-nasa-mission (http://www.blastr.com/2015-9-17/image-day-nichelle-nichols-takes-skies-nasa-mission)
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Press release, 2 June 2016
SOFIA airborne observatory – NASA and DLR extend cooperation agreement at ILA
The SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) airborne observatory – a joint venture between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
NASA – explores the evolution of galaxies using the telescope. Since 2011, the hatch of the modified Boeing 747SP has been opened 250 times to observe the night sky. The numerous 10-hour-long flights have been so prosperous that DLR and NASA have extended
SOFIA's service life – initially until the end of 2020. The agreement was signed on 2 June 2016 by the Chair of the DLR Executive Board, Pascale Ehrenfreund, Gerd Gruppe, Member of the DLR Executive Board responsible for the Space Administration, and
Dava Newman, Deputy Administrator of NASA, at the ILA Berlin Air Show.
SOFIA – a classic example of German-US collaboration
"SOFIA is a classic example of the many years of successful collaboration between NASA and DLR in the field of space exploration research," said Ehrenfreund during the signing in Berlin. "We're pleased to be making this globally unique observatory
available to astronomers for their research for an initial period of four more years," added Gruppe. The extension of the agreement is also a milestone for NASA: "SOFIA's unique capabilities for observing the universe in the mid and far infrared will
be unparalleled for many years to come. The breakthrough science from this one-of-a-kind flying observatory will help unravel the mysteries of our cosmos, and complement the discoveries of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope," said Newman.
Fit for duty until 2030
The airborne observatory measures the thermal emission from space that is not visible from Earth. Its observations therefore focus on the evolution of galaxies – in particular, the Milky Way. SOFIA mainly explores molecular and dust clouds in galaxies,
where new stars and planetary systems are formed. The airborne observatory has therefore been designed – and regularly maintained – to ensure its missions until 2030. Its measuring instruments are also continuously being enhanced and/or replaced by
modern, more efficient versions. Based on regular reviews of the scientific results, NASA and DLR will decide on a further service life extension from 2018.
German research set to continue
The collaboration and allocation of responsibilities between the two partners is managed by means of a cooperation agreement – a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The original MoU concluded at the end of 1996 for a period of 10 years, to manage the
development and construction of the infrared telescope by DLR, and its installation in the Boeing 747SP modified by NASA. In late 2006, the MoU was extended for another 10 years, to cover the intensive test phase and initial scientific observations.
In addition to providing the telescope, Germany also has a 20 percent share in the operation of the observatory – 20 percent of the observation time is therefore allocated to scientists from German research institutes. Scientists now have a total of
seven measuring instruments at their disposal, including cameras and spectrometers; their use in the institutes is also financed by funding from NASA and DLR. German scientists can now continue to use this technology and carry on exploring the evolution
of galaxies until 2020 and beyond.
SOFIA
The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), is a joint project operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The German contribution
to the project is managed by the DLR Space Administration, using funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium fuer Wirtschaft und Energie), the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the University of Stuttgart.
Development of the German instruments is financed using funds from the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) and DLR. The scientific operations are coordinated by the
German SOFIA Institute (Deutsche SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart on the German side, and by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) on the American side.
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Press release, 7 June 2016
Down under – SOFIA flying observatory with three instruments in New Zealand
SOFIA is in New Zealand for the third time – it visited the country in 2013 and 2015 as well. On 6 June 2016, the joint NASA and German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) flying observatory landed at Christchurch Internationl
Airport at 01:37 CEST (11:37 local time). Ths Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will embark on the first scientific flight of this year's campaign in the southern hemisphere on 9 June. Equipped with the German-built remote infrared
spectrometers GREAT (German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies) and FIFI-LS (Field-Imaging Far-Infrared Line Spectrometer), as well as with the US FORCAST (Faint Object InfraRedCAmera for the SOFIA Telescope) SOFIA will conduct a total
of 25 observation flights until 20 July 2016.
With these instruments, it is possible to observe molecular and dust clouds in star forming regions. The scientists will be looking in particular at our neighbouring dwarf galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud – visible only in the southern
sky – as well as at the motion of matter in the centre of our Milky Way, to compare the star forming regions in these different types of galaxies.
"During this year's research programme, for the first time three observation instruments will be used. For the scientists, this is a major benefit, as such star-forming regions can be observed in various stages of their development," explains Alois
Himmes, SOFIA Project Manager at the DLR Space Administration. As an example, the spectral 'fingerprints' of atoms and molecules can be measured to determine the gas densities, temperatures and velocities of the clouds. "The full dynamics of star formation
can thus be examined in detail – from huge but less dense molecular clouds, to small but compact clouds and the so-called protoplanetary discs, in the centre of which a new star has already started to shine," adds Himmes.
SOFIA left its home base in Palmdale, California on 4 June 2016 and landed in Christchurch, New Zealand after a refuelling stop in Hawaii. During this transfer flight, FIFI-LS and FORCAST were stowed in special transport racks in the cargo bay of the
Boeing 747SP. GREAT was already attached to the instrument flange of the 2.7-metre diameter telescope installed on the Jumbo jet. "GREAT was used in the recent research flights from Palmdale and will also be used for the first eight flights in New
Zealand," explains Himmes.
More than 100 staff members – including scientists, pilots, engineers, maintenance and security staff – will be in Christchurch until the end of July. SOFIA takes advantage of the long winter nights in New Zealand because, during this time, the water
vapour concentration in Earth's atmosphere is much lower than in the northern hemisphere summer. Even the smallest amount of water vapour in the air absorbs the infrared radiation, and it can no longer be measured by the spectrometers.
Exploring vast molecular clouds with GREAT
For the first time, an upgraded version of GREAT will also be flying in New Zealand – upGREAT. Instead of one detector, like in GREAT, upGREAT operates 14 detectors simultaneously. These are divided into two arrays and can therefore map a molecular
cloud significantly faster. "With upGREAT, the performance and observing efficiency of our instruments is increased approximately 10 times, and new unexplored frequency ranges become accessible," explains Rolf Güsten, head of the GREAT instrument at
the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. "This year, the investigations will focus on the mapping of atomic oxygen in the Magellanic Clouds and in the galactic centre to study the chemistry of protoplanetary disks and planetary nebula,
as well as the hunt for molecules thus far not detected in space."
FIFI-LS acquires data on star formation
FIFI-LS will be exploring the southern hemisphere for the first time. This instrument observes with substantially more wavelengths than GREAT, and can perform faster large-scale mapping of extensive molecular clouds. This time, FIFI-LS will be used
to study the elements oxygen, nitrogen and carbon in star forming regions and the interstellar medium – the space between the stars both in our Milky Way and in other more distant galaxies. "This allows us to generate a detailed inventory of the material
in the vicinity of the galactic centre," explains Alfred Krabbe, head of the FIFI-LS instrument and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. "We will also investigate the large star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
This can only be done from New Zealand."
FORCAST closes the campaign
During its nine flights, FORCAST will measure at shorter wavelengths than FIFI-LS and observe in particular dust discs around newly formed stars, but also the dust that has been thrown back into the Universe by old stars and supernovae. On 25 July,
SOFIA will fly back to Palmdale again. Following a period of maintenance of the aircraft and the telescope, another 40 scientific flights will be carried out from California from mid-August until the end of 2016.
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Flying observatory SOFIA expanding frontiers in solar system and beyond
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, will soon be studying Neptune’s giant moon, Triton, and following-up on Hubble’s recent sighting of water plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa. According to recently completed plans for the 2017 observing campaign, about half of the research time for SOFIA will run the gamut from studies of planets to observations of comets and asteroids orbiting other stars and supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies beyond our own. The other half will focus on star formation and the interstellar medium, the areas of dust and gas in the universe, including a vast turbulent region encircling the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.
A total of 535 observing hours have been awarded for SOFIA’s Science Cycle 5, which runs from February 2017 through January 2018, and the selected programs span the entire field of astronomy from planetary science to extragalactic investigations. Triton, only one-third of a light-year from Earth, will be one of the closest objects studied by NASA’s flying observatory while the farthest observation will study a supermassive black hole approximately 12 billion light-years away.
https://astronomynow.com/2016/11/16/flying-observatory-sofia-expanding-frontiers-in-solar-system-and-beyond/
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Triton, only one-third of a light-year from Earth
It's actually one light-hour away from Earth, or 1/3% of a light-year. How could such an error slip into their publication?
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Triton, only one-third of a light-year from Earth
It's actually one light-hour away from Earth, or 1/3% of a light-year. How could such an error slip into their publication?
Even less: It's about 0,045% of a light year (29-30 AU). Astonishing they did not catch that.
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Triton, only one-third of a light-year from Earth
It's actually one light-hour away from Earth, or 1/3% of a light-year. How could such an error slip into their publication?
Even less: It's about 0,045% of a light year (29-30 AU). Astonishing they did not catch that.
That came straight from the SOFIA Science Center press release.
https://www.sofia.usra.edu/public/news-updates/nasa%E2%80%99s-flying-observatory-expanding-new-frontiers-solar-system-and-beyond
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Inside The Heart Of The World’s Largest Flying Observatory
NASA's Ames Research Center
Published on Dec 4, 2016
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is the largest airborne observatory in the world, capable of making observations that are impossible for even the largest and highest ground-based telescopes. SOFIA is an extensively modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches). SOFIA studies many different kinds of astronomical objects and phenomena, including star birth and death, the formation of new solar systems, black holes at the center of galaxies, and complex molecules in space. SOFIA's instruments — cameras, spectrometers, and photometers — operate in the near-, mid- and far-infrared wavelengths and allow scientists onboard to study the solar system and beyond while flying at 38,000- 45,000 feet. Learn more: http://go.nasa.gov/2gQ5AFF
NASA Ames Research Center is located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science and technology.
https://youtu.be/bWGfMOJSa-c?t=001
https://youtu.be/bWGfMOJSa-c
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May 2, 2017
SOFIA Confirms Nearby Planetary System is Similar to Our Own
NASA’s flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, recently completed a detailed study of a nearby planetary system. The investigations confirmed that this nearby planetary system has an architecture remarkably similar to that of our solar system.
Located 10.5 light-years away in the southern hemisphere of the constellation Eridanus, the star Epsilon Eridani, eps Eri for short, is the closest planetary system around a star similar to the early sun. It is a prime location to research how planets form around stars like our sun, and is also the storied location of the Babylon 5 space station in the science fictional television series of the same name.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sofia-confirms-nearby-planetary-system-is-similar-to-our-own
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
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HIRMES: SOFIA's latest high-resolution Mid-infrared Spectrometer
NASA Goddard
Published on Nov 15, 2017
A team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is developing a new, third-generation facility science instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA.
The High-Resolution Mid-InfrarEd Spectrometer (HIRMES), is a spectrometer optimized to detect neutral atomic oxygen, water, as well as normal and deuterated (or "heavy") hydrogen molecules at infrared wavelengths between 25 and 122 microns (a micron is one-millionth of a meter). These wavelengths are key to determining how water vapor, ice, and oxygen combine at different times during planet formation and will enable new observations of how these elements combine with dust to form the mass that may one day become a planet.
HIRMES will provide scientists with a unique opportunity to study this aspect of planetary formation, as SOFIA is currently the only NASA observatory capable of accessing these mid-infrared wavelengths. Infrared wavelengths between 28 and 112 microns do not reach ground-based telescopes because water vapor and carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere block this energy. SOFIA is able to access this part of the electromagnetic spectrum by flying between 39,000 feet and 45,000 feet, above more than 99 percent of this water vapor.
Read the web story – https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-next-generation-spectrometer-for-sofia-flying-observatory
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger
Francis Reddy (Syneren Technologies): Science Writer
Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Videographer
John Caldwell (AIMM): Videographer
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Animator
Music credit: "Sparkle Shimmer" and "The Orion Arm", both from Killer Tracks.
https://youtu.be/3SFPwMIJFBA?t=001
https://youtu.be/3SFPwMIJFBA
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SOFIA resumes observations after extended maintenance
WASHINGTON — A NASA airborne observatory that enjoys unusual protection from regular reviews resumed science flights recently after an extended maintenance period.
http://spacenews.com/sofia-resumes-observations-after-extended-maintenance/
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DLR Press Release, 15 September 2019
SOFIA in Stuttgart – first scientific research flight over Europe
On 16 September 2019 at 04:14 CEST, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is expected to land at Stuttgart Airport. The airborne observatory is a joint project by the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches
Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). SOFIA is scheduled to take off from Stuttgart at 19:40 CEST on 18 September for its first scientific research flight over Europe, during which it will fly over 12 countries. The idea behind this is that, during
its European mission, SOFIA will fly much farther north than it is able to when taking off from its home base in Palmdale, southern California. The closer the infrared observatory is able to fly to the poles, the less water vapour is present in the
atmosphere above it, offering improved observing conditions.
“This is a very special occasion – SOFIA will be taking off from Stuttgart for its first European scientific research flight,” says Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chair of the DLR Executive Board. “The researchers on board will be exploring the areas around
black holes and looking into the question of whether Dark Energy really is causing the Universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate.”
Tracking star formation
Not only did humans first set foot on the Moon 50 years ago in 1969, but NASA scientists also – somewhat by chance – discovered a very special galaxy. Markarian 231 – in the Ursa Major constellation – is approximately 600 million light years from Earth.
This is about 300 times further away than the Andromeda Galaxy, which is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. Nonetheless, Markarian 231 is one of the nearest galaxies to Earth that is both extremely bright and has an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN).
Its luminosity in the infrared region of the spectrum makes Markarian 231 one of the brightest and best-known ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. Two black holes circle around one another at its centre. One of them, at four million solar masses, is rather
small; the other, which weighs 150 million solar masses, is much larger. Researchers are interested in looking at the area around these black holes during SOFIA’s first European flight. A dust torus surrounds them.
These doughnut-shaped regions are found around every AGN. However, the role that they play in generating radio jets remains unclear. These are pairs of plasma jets that are ejected from the centre of an AGN at relativistic velocities. Not every AGN
produces such radio jets, as has been shown by radio astronomy observations. Previous studies with SOFIA have indicated that the magnetic field in these dust-laden tori may help to trigger radio jet formation. Can the creation of the jets really be
traced back to the presence – or indeed the absence – of a magnetic field? This is an important question to which astronomers have not yet found an answer.
Since only the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC+) infrared instrument on SOFIA can measure magnetic fields in this wavelength range, the researchers want to use it to decipher the connection between these fields and radio jets. They began
their observations of the AGN of Cygnus A during a flight over southern California in 2018. “SOFIA’s first European mission will continue this research to finally solve the astronomical mystery of radio jets,” explains Alessandra Roy, the German SOFIA
Project Scientist at the DLR Space Administration, which operates the airborne observatory jointly with NASA.
Is the Universe expanding at an accelerating rate?
The Universe has been continuously expanding since the Big Bang. This discovery was made by Edwin Hubble in 1929 . Then, in the late 1980s, the Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicists Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess and Brian Schmidt began observing type 1a
supernovae. These stellar explosions, referred to as ‘cosmic lighthouses’, are visible from far away and always have the same brightness. This allows their distances to be clearly determined, as the brighter these type 1a supernovae appear, the closer
they are to the observer. Determining the brightness of many supernovae enabled researchers to ascertain whether or not the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. The results came as a surprise. The observed stellar explosions were less luminous
than expected.
This made it clear to the three researchers that the expansion is speeding up and the Universe is being driven apart by a mysterious acceleration mechanism that is now referred to as Dark Energy. But is this really the case? Is the unexpectedly low
luminosity due to the Universe moving apart at increasing speed? Or was there some problem with the observations? “These are precisely the questions that researchers from Austin, Texas will be addressing as they use the HAWC+ instrument on board SOFIA
to observe dust in the home galaxies of type 1a supernovae. They will measure the dust content in the region around the stellar explosion. Similar observations will also be performed by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope, which is scheduled
for launch in 2022. After these observations, we will perhaps know more precisely whether the expansion of the Universe is really accelerated by Dark Energy,” explains Roy, who is involved in both the Euclid and SOFIA missions.
Europe’s night sky – a treasure trove of cosmic secrets
A number of other scientific observations are planned during SOFIA’s 10-hour flight. Astronomers from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will be targeting the Serpens South region of the Serpens cloud – a formation
with extremely young stars – from the sky above France. With these three- to four-million-year-old stars, researchers can follow star formation almost from its very inception and find out more about this process. The next observation will focus on
the L 1495 filament in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) want to find out what role the dynamics of magnetic fields play in the formation process of filamentary clouds. “This will be SOFIA’s longest
single observation on its first observation flight in Europe. The journey will begin south of the Swedish coast, over the Baltic Sea, and cross Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, the Adriatic Sea and Italy – almost as far as Sicily,”
says Clemens Plank, Project Engineer for SOFIA at the DLR Space Administration, discussing the flight plan. This has had to be agreed in advance with all the relevant European air traffic authorities.
Young audience on board
Not just scientists will be on board for this exciting expedition. A team from the German children’s television programme ‘Sendung mit der Maus’ (Broadcast with the Mouse) will give the Mouse’s audience insights into SOFIA's research flight in a special
show entitled ‘Telescopes and Infrared Astronomy’. In addition, a winner of the ‘Jugend forscht’ competition for young researchers will fly on board SOFIA during its European premiere.
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Is this telescope-on-a-plane worth its pricetag? (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00685-2)
And through a freedom-of-information request, Nature obtained a copy of a scathing review of SOFIA made last year by an independent panel. The report is heavily redacted, but confirms that the observatory falls far short of its goals, including one to produce more than 150 scientific papers per year.
“Certainly, SOFIA has not lived up to its potential,” says Paul Hertz, head of NASA’s astrophysics division in Washington, DC.
That's not even counting the coronavirus pandemic that is upending lives and research around the globe. Because of the coronavirus threat, SOFIA has been grounded since the night of 12-13 March.
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DLR German Aerospace Center, Corporate Communications, Linder Hoehe, 51147 Koeln, Germany - http://www.DLR.de/en/
DLR Press Release, 1 October 2020
DLR / NASA infrared observatory undergoes C check - 'Pit stop' for SOFIA – airborne observatory returns to Hamburg
Full article with images: https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2020/04/20201001_sofia-returns-to-hamburg.html
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is making another 'pit stop'. At 19:17 on 30 September 2020, the airborne observatory, which is operated by the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), landed at Hamburg Airport. There, it will undergo a routine 'C check' at Lufthansa Technik. During this check, which takes place approximately every three years, the Boeing 747SP will be put through its paces. "We are looking forward to the renewed cooperation with Lufthansa Technik," explains Heinz Hammes, SOFIA Project Manager at the DLR Space Administration. "The special circumstances this year require cooperation and flexibility from all parties involved. We are convinced that we are in the right place for the tasks ahead."
New climate control for the research instruments
During this year's C check, the engine nacelles and cabin, including the panelling and floors, will be dismantled. This is necessary in order to be able to carry out the test and maintenance work and to check all cabling and fuel lines. The air conditioning system will also be upgraded. "This will enable us to adjust the temperature in the cabin very accurately in future," explains Hammes. "This is particularly important in the instrument zone, because every research instrument requires a precise ambient temperature." The final checks at Lufthansa Technik – for example on the engines and cabin pressurisation – are scheduled for mid-December. The maintenance work should be completed by the beginning of February and SOFIA will then be available for new scientific flights.
Maintenance work on telescope and research instrument
The telescope – the German contribution and the heart of the observatory – will also be thoroughly serviced during the stay in Hamburg. This work will be carried out by the German SOFIA Institute (Deutsches SOFIA Institut; DSI), which is based at the University of Stuttgart. This involves more complex work, which is only due every three to six years. However, a large number of smaller, routine measures are also on the to-do list, such as the inspection of the 2.7-metre primary mirror and software updates for the electronic control systems.
This year, one of SOFIA's six scientific instruments has also come to Hamburg. The German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) will be detached from the telescope and transferred to the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfRA) in Bonn for maintenance and optimisation.
Special safety precautions during the Coronavirus pandemic
All work on the aircraft will be carried out under strict safety measures due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Both Lufthansa Technik and NASA have developed and coordinated comprehensive procedures for working in and on the aircraft. These include the requirement that no more than 15 people may be on board at any one time. This means that only absolutely necessary personnel have access. Due to the long-standing cooperation of all those involved, the work on the aircraft itself is largely routine. "In 2014 and 2017, we experienced an exceptionally good cooperation with our colleagues from DSI, DLR and NASA and we are pleased to be able to continue this now," says Sven Hatje, the Project Manager at Lufthansa Technik responsible for the C check on SOFIA, "It is nice to be able to welcome SOFIA again."
SOFIA
SOFIA is a globally unique airborne observatory that investigates space in the infrared spectrum. For example, the observatory investigates how Milky Way systems develop and how stars and planetary systems are formed from interstellar molecular and dust clouds. This is made possible by a 17-tonne telescope with a mirror diameter of 2.7 metres, developed and manufactured in Germany. SOFIA has six different scientific instruments, two of which come from Germany.
The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), is a joint project of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The German contribution to the project is managed by the DLR Space Administration, using funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium fuer Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi), the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the University of Stuttgart. German scientific operations are coordinated by the German SOFIA Institute (Deutsche SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart; US activities are coordinated by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Development of the German instruments is funded by the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) and DLR.
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NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a recent audit of the SOFIA program:
NASA’s Management of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Program
https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-20-022.pdf (https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-20-022.pdf)
(copy of pdf also attached)
Here are the opening findings:
What We Found
Although responsible for several first-of-its-kind discoveries, SOFIA’s 13-year development delay reduced the Program’s ability to produce impactful science in a cost-effective manner, particularly when compared to the cost of and science produced by other infrared observatories that launched in the interim. Further, SOFIA has not fully utilized its unique capabilities to serve as an instrument test bed due to high instrument development costs, or to fly anytime anywhere because of a lack of instrument scheduling flexibility, the amount of time necessary to switch out instruments, and the prioritization of observations with greater scientific significance.
SOFIA also continues to experience operational and technical challenges related to flight operations, observation completion, data processing, USRA’s award fees, and instrument development. While SOFIA was designed to fly 960 research (or observation) hours annually, it has yet to achieve this number of hours or dispatch the expected number of scheduled flights, resulting in much less science output than expected.
[... continues]
The lack of clear and achievable performance expectations and lack of concurrence between SMD and SOFIA management on science output goals including publication and citation metrics has reduced productivity and threatens the Program’s future viability. The Program is unlikely to achieve the community’s expectation of 150 publications per year by 2022, or the Program’s goal of 100 annual publications, as it only produced 33 publications in 2019 and the actions proposed to meet this goal fall short of the transformational changes required to address current operational and technical challenges. Further, the proposed actions are unlikely to mitigate SOFIA’s lack of competitiveness because of the Program’s poor efficiency on a science-per-dollar basis when compared to other observatories.
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https://twitter.com/SOFIA_DSI/status/1313441315292672005
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Just asking in passing...
Did SOFIA pushed too far (2.7 m telescope on a 747SP) compared to old KAO ?
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SOFIA has been a bit of a hangar queen. Not flying quite as often as planned and being more expensive to operate than was anticipated. The 747SP aircraft was supposed to undergo major maintenance only once every 10 years, but after operations began in 2010 it was grounded in both 2014 and 2017-2018 for extended maintenance. The main base of operations for Sofia is in New Zealand, but the maintenance is done in Germany. So it involves a long trip, lots of coordination and planning, etc. The German space program, DLR, is responsible for the aircraft maintenance and 20% of operating costs. Part of the issue with Sofia in 2018 was that NASA wanted DLR to pay more to help relieve the burden.
But it has produced some good science, and has made some noteworthy observations, for example, it managed to see a star being occulted by 2014 MU69 "Ultima Thule" when ground observatories could not, which allowed New Horizons to more accurately target it.
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The main base of operations for Sofia is in New Zealand, but the maintenance is done in Germany. So it involves a long trip, lots of coordination and planning, etc.
SOFIA is based out of Southern California, though it spends a chunk of the northern summer in New Zealand.
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Just asking in passing...
Did SOFIA pushed too far (2.7 m telescope on a 747SP) compared to old KAO ?
Well given that it was over budget by over a factor of 4 and more than a decade behind schedule, I'd say yes. It's certainly an engineering marvel but it's success should be judged on it's scientific output, and it has been a huge flop. It costs as much as HST to operate, but produces just 1/30th of the number of papers. The cost is currently 3 million per paper, even when you ignore the development costs. It's just insane. It clearly hasn't delivered on it's claimed scientific potential. Just look at how few science updates there are on this thread. There are also no signs of how things will improve. One thing missing from this update page is that Sofia's only next generation instrument in development (HIRMES) was cancelled after the project had many problems.
The problem is that now it's become a political entity. NASA science missions are supposed to face Senior Reviews to determine if the are good value for money, to see if they should be extended. However the US congress decided instead that they know better and exempted Sofia from senior reviews for another 15 years (starting in 2018). During that time it will consume another 1.5 billion, which could have been used for something with much better scientific return. Every 2 years spent supporting Sofia is a SMEX that cannot happen.
Sofia should be put back under senior reviews, where it will probably given an ultimatum or just mothballed. The decadal survey midterm review stressed this. I don't think many astronomers would disagree that it's needed. Lobbying and pork barrel politics shouldn't play a role.
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Incidentally, why did they picked a 747SP - of all 747 variants ? As far as 747s production runs went, it was a pretty marginal variant, no ?
Wikipedia tells me, only 45 were build. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP
As of June 2020, there were 7 Boeing 747SPs still in active service with 18 more stored and 1 preserved. The remaining 19 were either scrapped, otherwise destroyed or abandoned.[11][verification needed]
In 2016, the last 747SP in commercial service was withdrawn from service after 40 years by Iran Air.[13][14][15]
As of 2017, the majority of the seven aircraft still in service are used for governmental or VIP transport.
2 Pratt & Whitney Canada (used as an engine testbed)[16]
1 Government of Oman
2 Las Vegas Sands
1 NASA/DLR (used as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA)
And from the 747-200 generation, that is, 40 years old tech.
Why not a 747-400 ? or, at worse, a 747-200, as they did for AF1 / E-4B ?
On the positive side, it seems to have some terrific performance, notably range. A truncated and lightened -200 fuselage with the same wings and engines, ceiling, too, must have been pretty impressive.
Maybe that's the reason, why.
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Incidentally, why did they picked a 747SP - of all 747 variants ? As far as 747s production runs went, it was a pretty marginal variant, no ?
Wikipedia tells me, only 45 were build. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP
As of June 2020, there were 7 Boeing 747SPs still in active service with 18 more stored and 1 preserved. The remaining 19 were either scrapped, otherwise destroyed or abandoned.[11][verification needed]
In 2016, the last 747SP in commercial service was withdrawn from service after 40 years by Iran Air.[13][14][15]
As of 2017, the majority of the seven aircraft still in service are used for governmental or VIP transport.
2 Pratt & Whitney Canada (used as an engine testbed)[16]
1 Government of Oman
2 Las Vegas Sands
1 NASA/DLR (used as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA)
And from the 747-200 generation, that is, 40 years old tech.
Why not a 747-400 ? or, at worse, a 747-200, as they did for AF1 / E-4B ?
On the positive side, it seems to have some terrific performance, notably range. A truncated and lightened -200 fuselage with the same wings and engines, ceiling, too, must have been pretty impressive.
Maybe that's the reason, why.
Yes, the 747SP is much shorter than a standard 747, the reduced mass of the aircraft results in much greater range. That's certainly a benefit.
However, I would suppose that the shortened body also gives it greater structural stiffness, which is needed since they cut a massive hole in the fuselage for the telescope to look out of.
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Massive Stars Are Factories for Ingredients to Life
NASA’s telescope on an airplane, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, has provided a new glimpse of the chemistry in the inner region surrounding massive young stars where future planets could begin to form. It found massive quantities of water and organic molecules in these swirling, disk-shaped clouds, offering new insights into how some of the key ingredients of life get incorporated into planets during the earliest stages of formation.
A similar process likely happened during the formation of the Sun and the inner rocky planets of our solar system, including Earth. The results are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
“We’re seeing many more molecular signatures than were ever seen before at these wavelengths,” said Andrew Barr, the lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “It turns out that these stars are like chemical factories churning out molecules important for life as we know it and we just needed the right kind of observations to see them.”
SOFIA’s infrared observations offer an unparalleled view of star chemistry. When visible light is spread into its component colors, a rainbow appears. When infrared light is broken into its components, it reveals a series of bright lines, called spectra. Each element creates a unique line, so the lines act as chemical fingerprints. Scientists use them to identify which substances are in and around stars. SOFIA’s instruments can detect small details in the chemical fingerprints from the cores of massive young stars, similar to how high-resolution images reveal tiny features. This information about massive stars, more than 40 times the mass of our Sun, can be a reference for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which will study the formation of Sun-sized stars, among other types of targets.
“This study is very exciting as it demonstrates the power of infrared observatories to sense the presence of simple organic compounds that were important for the origin of life on Earth, and possibly other planets,” said Klaus Pontoppidan, project scientist for the Webb telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “One of the most important goals of both Webb and SOFIA is to understand the origins of stars and planets — and ultimately ourselves.”
Stars form when celestial clouds collapse, feeding a rotating disc of gas and dust into a central core. SOFIA looked at this process happening around two massive stars, AFGL 2591 and AFGL 2136, each about 3,000 light years away in the constellation Cygnus and the Juggler Nebula respectively. The observatory found the inner regions of these discs are heated from the inside out, transforming the gas surrounding the core into an entirely different composition. Within the same areas of the disc where planets would form were a chemical soup of organic molecules, including water, ammonia, methane, and acetylene — which is a chemical building block of larger and more complex organic molecules.
Further studies of other massive young stars by SOFIA will deepen our understanding of the processes creating organic molecules. As SOFIA’s observations indicate that massive star formation is a scaled-up version of what is occurring in smaller, Sun-sized stars, these new studies can be of benefit to Webb. While Webb’s extremely sensitive telescope will be able to detect some of the weakest signals from molecules present around Sun-like stars, SOFIA can unambiguously identify the chemical compositions of molecules glowing brightly around more massive stars. This will help scientists using Webb interpret the weaker signals.
SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 106-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Hangar 703 in Palmdale, California.
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
Felicia Chou
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0257
[email protected]
Alison Hawkes
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.
650-604-4789
[email protected]
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/massive-stars-are-factories-for-ingredients-to-life
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NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon
October 26, 2020 RELEASE 20-105
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.
SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface. The results are published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x#_blank) in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.
“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.”
[...]
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/ (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/)
Molecular water detected on the sunlit Moon by SOFIA [Nature Astronomy Paper]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x.pdf (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01222-x.pdf)
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Hope that will give poor SOFIA some reprieve in the eyes of... well, see the page before.
And Clavius, of all places 8)
Fantastic discovery !
More seriously...
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1134.pdf
I wonder how does today announcement relates to this. Could the bottom of the Marius Hills skylight be considered a cold trap ?
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Another article on it:
https://www.foxnews.com/science/nasa-moon-announcement-water-surface (https://www.foxnews.com/science/nasa-moon-announcement-water-surface)
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DLR Press Release, 26 October 2020
The flying observatory SOFIA discovers water molecules on the Moon
Full article with images:
https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2020/04/20201026_sofia-discovers-water-molecules-on-the-moon.html
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has provided the first direct and unambiguous evidence of water molecules on the Moon outside the permanent shadow at the lunar poles. The infrared observatory, which is operated by US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) was able to detect the molecules in the Moon's southern hemisphere using SOFIA's FORCAST instrument (Faint Object InfraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope). The findings from the scientific research were published on 26 October, 2020 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
"We have been looking for water on the Moon since the first lunar rocks were brought to Earth in the 1960s," says Alessandra Roy, SOFIA project scientist at the DLR Space Administration. "However, most of these samples showed no evidence of its presence." The scientists only obtained confirmation of its existence in 2008, from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper on board the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission, and this demonstrated the presence of water only in the Moon's dark polar regions. SOFIA has now been able to demonstrate that water also exists in areas of the Moon's surface that are illuminated by the Sun. The airborne infrared observatory had already used the FORCAST instrument to observe the Moon on 30 August 2018. This allowed scientists to identify the unmistakable fingerprint of water molecules in the mid-infrared range (at a wavelength of six micrometres) in the vicinity of the Clavius Crater in the Moon's southern hemisphere.
Where does the Moon's water come from?
"The sunlit parts of the Moon can reach temperatures of approximately 230 degrees Celsius. Having practically no atmosphere, there is no protection for its water which at this temperature evaporates under the heat of the light from the Sun. There is no way of catching any of it," says Roy. "However, water is present on the surface." Currently, there are two theories to explain the presence of water on the surface. Some scientists believe that micrometeorites falling onto the Moon's surface and carrying small quantities of water could deposit the liquid within the rock as they collide with it. In the process, the water becomes enclosed in tiny, glass, bead-like structures in the ground. However, there is also the possibility that a two-stage process may occur, in which hydrogen from the solar wind reaches the Moon's surface, where it combines with hydroxyl – a hydrogen atom bound to an oxygen atom – to form water. The data acquired by SOFIA indicates that most of the water that has been detected lies within the substrate covering the lunar surface.
Water as the basis for future space missions
One of the objectives of the ESA Space Resources Strategy, which focuses on the Moon, is to confirm whether resources such as water could enable sustainable space exploration. "The amount of water discovered by SOFIA is roughly equivalent to the contents of a 300-millilitre can of drink, spread over the same surface area as a football pitch," explains Roy. "The Moon remains drier than deserts on Earth, but the quantity of water that has been discovered could still prove important for future crewed missions in space."
SOFIA will now observe the Moon's sunlit surface during different lunar phases to investigate the water phenomenon in greater detail. The scientists hope that this will open up new insight into where water on the Moon comes from, how it is stored, and how it is distributed across the lunar surface. Data from SOFIA will complement the findings from future Moon missions.
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Kuiper Airborne Observatory also tried lunar observations back then.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995ASPC...73..341B/abstract
Balloon-borne mid-infrared observation of the Moon in the 60's.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7772466
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700th flight of SOFIA:
https://twitter.com/SOFIA_DSI/status/1363768358752116741
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Science Result: Surprisingly Young Nebula Hints at Formation of Stars in the Early Universe
lproudfi Posted on June 4, 2021
Astronomers are still trying to understand how stars and galaxies formed in the early universe. Now, scientists have new clues from a glowing nebula filled with clouds of hot gas and dust, known as RCW 120. Data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, suggest that this nebula may be representative of how stars formed in the early universe.
Scientists using SOFIA, a joint project of NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR, found the stellar wind emanating from the nebula’s central massive star is making the nebula expand rapidly. The expansion is triggering the birth of stellar neighbors at breakneck speeds – and revealing the nebula is younger than previously believed. The results are published in Science Advances.
In the southern Milky Way, about 4,300 light-years from Earth, in clouds near the constellation Scorpius, researchers discovered that the powerful stellar winds are expanding the nebula incredibly fast at 33,000 miles per hour (about 53,000 kilometers per hour). The surrounding gas clouds are getting compressed as the nebula pushes into them – triggering the birth of new stars near the clouds’ edges.
The expansion speed was also used to determine the nebula’s age. It turns out RCW 120 is much younger than previously believed, having formed less than 150,000 years ago. This discovery provided a clue about the universe’s distant past.
“The nebula is giving us a window into what star formation may have been like in the early universe,” said Dr. Matteo Luisi, a postdoctoral fellow at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. “We can’t go back to study the early universe, so we depend on observations like these to understand how it transformed from the Big Bang to the universe we see today.”
Astronomers call the effects stars have on their neighbors’ creation “feedback.” But exactly how feedback can help or hinder star formation is still somewhat of a mystery. SOFIA previously found that a stellar wind in the Orion Nebula is clearing a bubble free of material needed to form new stars. Now, in the nebula RCW 120, the energy from the original star is triggering the birth of new generations.
The nebula’s young age suggests that star formation triggered by an existing star’s feedback can happen very quickly and may have been responsible for the high rate of star formation in the universe’s earliest eras.
The observations were made while flying in the skies above Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. Using SOFIA’s instrument called the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies, or GREAT, researchers studied the chemical fingerprint of ionized carbon gas to measure the nebula’s expansion speed. Unlike infrared images, this fingerprint measures how fast the gas is moving, which can be used to learn how existing stars are affecting future generations. These results are part of an international project to understand the effects of stellar feedback in a variety of star-forming regions.
DLR is NASA’s partner on SOFIA, providing the telescope, scheduled aircraft maintenance, and other support for the mission. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2021/06/04/science-result-surprisingly-young-nebula-hints-at-formation-of-stars-in-the-early-universe/
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DLR Press Release, 20 July 2021
Tahiti instead of New Zealand - Airborne observatory SOFIA observes the southern sky from French Polynesia
Full article with images: https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2021/03/20210721_airborne-observatory-sofia-observes-the-southern-sky.html
New operational area for observing the southern sky
Originally, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) would have observed the night sky of the southern hemisphere from New Zealand as is usually the case. "Due to the travel restrictions caused by COVID-19, we were not able to deploy the Observatory from Christchurch as normal. We therefore decided to switch to Tahiti," says Heinz Hammes, SOFIA Project Manager for the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). "The observations from the southern hemisphere have great scientific importance. This is why we are very grateful to the government of French Polynesia for hosting us and providing a great service to the scientific community. All of the staff on board are vaccinated, so we expect the campaign to run smoothly and look forward to getting some exciting results." SOFIA landed at Fa'a'a International Airport in French Polynesia on 19 July 2021 at 13:42 local time (20 July 2021 01:42 CEST). After this campaign, SOFIA will return to California, where it will complete its annual routine check before the airborne observatory sets off again to perform more observations.
From French Polynesia, SOFIA will conduct scientific flights for about eight weeks to observe astronomical sources that are not visible from the northern hemisphere. During this stay, astronomers will use two of the airborne observatory's scientific instruments – the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) for high-resolution spectroscopy, and the US High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC+) to measure magnetic fields.
Tracking down the causes of climate change with SOFIA
"The planned projects with the GREAT instrument include new measurements of atomic oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere. These will help us to better understand climate change," explains Alessandra Roy, SOFIA Project Scientist for the German Space Agency at DLR. Climate models predict that rising greenhouse gas concentrations will increase temperatures in the lower atmosphere, while temperatures in the upper atmosphere (mesosphere) will decrease. "These atomic oxygen measurements are important for estimating temperatures in the upper part of the atmosphere and can confirm the theories describing the exchange of solar energy between Earth’s surface and space," Roy emphasises.
Solving mysteries in the interstellar medium with SOFIA
GREAT will also set its sights on southern targets for two major projects – the Legacy Projects – that were already observed during SOFIA's stay at Cologne Bonn Airport. 'HyGAL' investigates how chemical reactions in the interstellar medium are influenced by high-energy particles – also referred to as cosmic rays – flowing through the galaxy. 'FEEDBACK' will study massive star-forming regions. In doing so, the researchers want to understand the influence of star-forming activities on the formation of other stars in the area – that is, whether they help or hinder the process of star formation. "These observations from SOFIA will give astronomers new insights into why the star formation process is so inefficient. We see far fewer stars than should be there. This raises the question of whether we fully understand the mechanism of star formation," says Roy.
After the 20 planned flights with GREAT, the observatory's engineers and technicians will replace the receiver and use HAWC+ to begin the Legacy Project Study of Interstellar Magnetic Polarization: a Legacy Investigation of Filaments (SIMPLIFI), among other things. In the process, they will point the SOFIA telescope at very special cosmic structures known as filaments – the long, thin gas formations in which most stars are formed. Thanks to the Legacy programme, the scientists will have gained new insights into the role of magnetic fields in star-forming regions. During these 12 flights with HAWC+, the observatory will also observe the Galactic centre to understand the role of magnetic fields in the regions closest to the central supermassive black hole.
SOFIA
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a globally unique airborne observatory that investigates space in the infrared spectrum. For example, the observatory investigates how Milky Way systems develop and how stars and planetary systems are formed from interstellar molecular and dust clouds. This is made possible by a 17-tonne telescope with a mirror diameter of 2.7 metres, developed and manufactured in Germany. SOFIA has six different scientific instruments, three of which come from Germany – two far-infrared instruments and one optical instrument.
SOFIA is a joint project of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The German contribution to the project is managed by the German Space Agency at DLR, using funds provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium fuer Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi), the State of Baden-Württemberg and the University of Stuttgart. Development of the German instruments is funded by the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) and DLR. German scientific operations are coordinated by the SOFIA Institute (Deutsche SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart; US activities are coordinated by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
GREAT
The German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) is an instrument for spectroscopic observations in the far infrared, at frequencies between 1.25 and five terahertz (wavelengths between 60 and 240 micrometres). These wavelengths are not accessible for ground-based observatories due to the lack of atmospheric transparency. GREAT is a first-generation instrument on board the SOFIA airborne observatory. It was developed and built by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn and the I. Physics Institute at the University of Cologne in collaboration with the DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems in Berlin. The development of the instrument was financed with funds from the participating institutes, the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG).
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NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, takes off from its base of operations at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Building 703 in Palmdale, California. The aircraft is on its way to Fa’a’ā, French Polynesia where it will be on a mission from July 19 to Sept. 12 to observe parts of the sky that are not visible from the Northern Hemisphere. NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, takes off from its base of operations at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Building 703 in Palmdale, California. The aircraft is on its way to Fa’a’ā, French Polynesia where it will be on a mission from July 19 to Sept. 12 to observe parts of the sky that are not visible from the Northern Hemisphere.
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NASA's Super Guppy Turbine cargo aircraft in the hangar with SOFIA at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center on August 24, 2021. NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), maintained and operated by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, is the world's largest airborne astronomical observatory, complementing NASA's space telescopes as well as major Earth-based telescopes.
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SOFIA recommended to be shut down in 2023 as recommended by excerpts from the Decadal Survey released today:
https://twitter.com/Thomas_Connor/status/1456281592477876227
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https://twitter.com/MSMN817/status/1512261595493249024
@SOFIAtelescope personnel were informed that the program will not be funded in the next fiscal year. Airborne Astronomy by the world’s largest flying telescope is over at the end of September.
@NASAPlanes @WatcherCtp Only got 11 good years of flying. ✈️
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I'm curious where than information came from. NASA has tried to cancel SOFIA multiple times unsuccessfully, so it would seem odd if they feel particularly at risk. Unless they have been told this year after year. It didn't help that the last budget was incredibly vague about SOFIA's future. The bill said "The agreement notes all recommendations of Astro2020" under SOFIA while ignoring the recommendation to cancel it without explanation.
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I'm curious where than information came from. NASA has tried to cancel SOFIA multiple times unsuccessfully, so it would seem odd if they feel particularly at risk. Unless they have been told this year after year. It didn't help that the last budget was incredibly vague about SOFIA's future. The bill said "The agreement notes all recommendations of Astro2020" under SOFIA while ignoring the recommendation to cancel it without explanation.
Well, this time there's also the explicit recommendation of the decadal survey to terminate SOFIA (BTW, has the survey recommended terminating an on-going operation ever before?). Anything can happen, I guess, but I think this is it for SOFIA.
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I'm curious where than information came from. NASA has tried to cancel SOFIA multiple times unsuccessfully, so it would seem odd if they feel particularly at risk. Unless they have been told this year after year. It didn't help that the last budget was incredibly vague about SOFIA's future. The bill said "The agreement notes all recommendations of Astro2020" under SOFIA while ignoring the recommendation to cancel it without explanation.
Well, this time there's also the explicit recommendation of the decadal survey to terminate SOFIA (BTW, has the survey recommended terminating an on-going operation ever before?). Anything can happen, I guess, but I think this is it for SOFIA.
That was also true for the last omnibus budget, which came out only about a month ago.
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20220307/BILLS-117RCP35-JES-DIVISION-B.pdf
And I'm not sure if any operational missions have been cancelled before. The 2010 Decadal did explicitly unendorse SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) which was already in development for many years. This quickly lead to it's cancellation. Typically missions that are already in development are not reprioritised. As Blackstar said, it's usually the Senior Reviews which oversee operational missions to decide which facilities get extended. The only reason it had to go as far as the Decadal is because of the political interference blocking the normal process in the case of SOFIA.
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the carbon footprint of various observatories
Presently scratching my head trying to grasp the significance of carbon footprint applied to astronomy.
No surprise poor SOFIA lost against ground-based or... space-based observatories. Even more since the basic aircraft is a rather antiquated 747SP, a pure product of the 1970's, a time when carbon footprint wasn't exactly a worry.
It is a bit absurd no ?
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As someone who’d like to understand more but would prefer not to try dig up the primary sources…
What are the arguments for cancelling SOFIA? Is it basically information yield vs operating cost or is there more? Eg, there was a mention of risk - is it dangerous or was that some other meaning?
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the carbon footprint of various observatories
Presently scratching my head trying to grasp the significance of carbon footprint applied to astronomy.
No surprise poor SOFIA lost against ground-based or... space-based observatories. Even more since the basic aircraft is a rather antiquated 747SP, a pure product of the 1970's, a time when carbon footprint wasn't exactly a worry.
It is a bit absurd no ?
Hardly. Astronomy has been taking a hard look at their overall carbon footprint. Astronomers have a MUCH heavier footprint than most people. Not only is there alot of flying around to conferences, but super computers eat ALOT of power.
As scientists, they don't want to be hypocrites when they mention climate change is bad, so they are looking at what they can do, as Astronomers are a pretty carbon heavy group
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SOFIA is also quite expensive to operate even in non-carbon-adjusted costs, with a relatively low scientific output. Its capabilities also overlap with those of many other IR telescopes, rather than offering any single unique capability.
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SOFIA is also quite expensive to operate even in non-carbon-adjusted costs, with a relatively low scientific output. Its capabilities also overlap with those of many other IR telescopes, rather than offering any single unique capability.
Hence why its a great target for cancellation. The money could be used on other things. I wonder which owned congress people are standing in the way of this.
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NASA has tried to shutdown SOFIA at least twice before, once in 2014 and earlier in 2006:
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2014/03/11/detailed-nasa-budget-request-offers-details-on-sofia-decision-and-more/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8712-nasa-leaves-jumbo-jet-telescope-on-the-runway/
The main justification for SOFIA was for it to be a pathfinder for Herschel and SIRTF. Long development delays eliminated that rationale. The project should have been terminated when it could no longer complement Herschel and SIRTF.
Even setting Herschel and SIRTF aside, SOFIA’s flight tempo also never lived up to expectations. The aircraft started as a rare 747 variant and was heavily and uniquely modified from there. The home brewed electrical system is especially unreliable, turning the aircraft into a hanger queen that only manages about 15-30 hours of flight per month and which often leaves the telescope inoperable even when flying.
That low operational tempo really diminishes science return out of proportion to SOFIA’s high annual operating costs, which at about $85M/yr are second only to the Hubble Space Telescope at ~$300M/yr. It’s kind of a no-brainer — why spend as much as a Great Observatory annually for a less-capable telescope with operational hours that are only ~2-4% of space telescopes. It’s little wonder SOFIA research produces so few publications.
The last defense for SOFIA was that it would operate in certain infrared bands that were not covered by other telescopes. But that never panned out as about half of SOFIA’s instrument complement was cannibalized to pay for development and operational cost growth. What instruments SOFIA does have mostly work in the same infrared bands as other telescopes.
SOFIA has been operated for NASA by the University Space Research Association (USRA). Every time SOFIA has faced cancellation, USRA has lobbied hard and succeeded in keeping it going. They may again this time.
SOFIA is certainly a cool concept (big telescope on a jumbo jet). But even if everything had gone as planned, SOFIA was never intended compete long-term with the capabilities of NASA’s space-based telescopes. SOFIA was just supposed to be a pathfinder and complement to those space-based telescopes for a short time. And because things did not go as planned at all, SOFIA did not live up to any of its other expectations, either. SOFIA classic example of how the parochial interests of contractors like USRA can hijack NASA projects far beyond their intended planning and cost the agency and taxpayer lots in raw dollars, careers, and opportunity costs.
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The international component, Germany's DLR, has it played a role in protecting SOFIA from cancellation?
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DLR has pushed NASA to keep SOFIA going in the past.
https://spacenews.com/39919germany-hasnt-given-up-on-persuading-nasa-to-keep-sofia-flying/
I don’t know if that’s DLR’s current position. Regardless, I don’t think it’s been as important to SOFIA’s survival as domestic lobbying by USRA.
If NASA or the Biden Administration were really serious about terminating SOFIA, they’d communicate with the German finance ministry (or whatever German federal org controls DLR’s budget). Unless crunched as NASA’s astrophysics budget is, executing agencies usually want to keeps thing going. But the budget agencies are always looking for savings and more amenable to cancellations on joint projects.
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I was talking to an astronomer co-worker who mentioned that a recent paper looked at the carbon footprint of various observatories. He noted that SOFIA does really bad, because of course it's burning a lot of jet fuel for each observation.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.08748
And attached.
The paper you link to is absolutely dreadful. My reply has become too long, so I will put it in a separate thread. The bottom line is that I think the paper is untrustworthy.
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That low operational tempo really diminishes science return out of proportion to SOFIA’s high annual operating costs, which at about $85M/yr are second only to the Hubble Space Telescope at ~$300M/yr.
HST's current operating costs are only about 100 million a year, in the most recent request it was 93m. For SOFIA's incredible operating cost the output in papers is 30 times less than Hubble. It also wasn't cheap to develop, it was over budget by a factor of 4 and more than a decade late.
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SOFIA was a promising looking concept which built on the legacy of the Kepler airborne observatory. It seems like they never got it working perfectly, and it hasn't been very productive. It is now time to move on and use the cash to fund a new mission.
Correction: It was the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, not Kepler
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That low operational tempo really diminishes science return out of proportion to SOFIA’s high annual operating costs, which at about $85M/yr are second only to the Hubble Space Telescope at ~$300M/yr.
HST's current operating costs are only about 100 million a year, in the most recent request it was 93m. For SOFIA's incredible operating cost the output in papers is 30 times less than Hubble. It also wasn't cheap to develop, it was over budget by a factor of 4 and more than a decade late.
I don't know what the Hubble expenditures are, but I'd be cautious about comparisons. Hubble has a huge legacy dataset now that is also producing more science than the instrument itself. Once we start down this road of making decisions primarily on the basis of cost, one could conclude that it's smarter to shut down Hubble and simply do science with the dataset. But that would be a poor decision. These kinds of decisions should be based upon many factors, of which cost is only one.
It is exactly the same comparison that was in the recent Decadal. You have to talk about cost at some point, this is a budgetary decision. Without comparing to other observatories there is really no way to gain a sense of value for money. SOFIA costs as much as a great observatory, so it should have some scientific return which is proportional to that cost. But it isn't producing publications at anywhere near the rate of major facilities. It also isn't producing significant remarkable niche science. There is also no evidence that it will improve, its only next gen instrument was cancelled after significant technical and budget problems.
And I disagree with your point about this logic being used to cancel operational missions, archival data has diminishing returns. Everyone is aware of that. It's quite easy to separate HST papers into archival vs new data. SOFIA too has a data archive, but it doesn't lead to nearly as many papers. You can also compare the first N years of operations between different facilities which removes the effect of the archive, again it looks very bad.
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As a quick heuristic of value, what results do you recall off-hand that were enabled by SOFIA? As a non-space scientist, the only SOFIA result I recall was an occultation that occurred in the middle of the Pacific (perhaps for helping aim New Horizons?) That's a fairly minor contribution. On the other hand, for any other mission of roughly equal budget, some big advance they enabled pops into mind.
Can anyone here name a big advance that was enabled by SOFIA?
Edit: Spell name of mission correctly.
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As a quick heuristic of value, what results do you recall off-hand that were enabled by Sofia? As a non-space scientist, the only Sofia result I recall was an occultation that occurred in the middle of the Pacific (perhaps for helping aim New Horizons?) That's a fairly minor contribution. On the other hand, for any other mission of roughly equal budget, some big advance they enabled pops into mind.
Can anyone here name a big advance that was enabled by Sophia?
The Pluto occultation is mentioned here as one of the science results of SOFIA (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive/sofia-successfully-observes-challenging-pluto-occultation). Maybe this will help - have a look at a decade of SOFIA results and papers here at the SOFIA Science Center (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive).
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Can someone please explain why exactly SOFIA is that expensive to run? Where does the money go?
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Can someone please explain why exactly SOFIA is that expensive to run? Where does the money go?
Operating and maintaining the 747, a one of a kind vehicle.
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As a quick heuristic of value, what results do you recall off-hand that were enabled by SOFIA? As a non-space scientist, the only SOFIA result I recall was an occultation [...]
Can anyone here name a big advance that was enabled by SOFIA?
The Pluto occultation is mentioned here as one of the science results of SOFIA (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive/sofia-successfully-observes-challenging-pluto-occultation). Maybe this will help - have a look at a decade of SOFIA results and papers here at the SOFIA Science Center (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive).
Thanks for the information, but my question was not "Where could I find SOFIA results?". My question was "What SOFIA results were striking enough that you recall them without looking them up?". The only one that occurred to me was the occultation, and I was wondering if that matched that of other participants here.
EDIT: Spell name of mission correctly.
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As a quick heuristic of value, what results do you recall off-hand that were enabled by Sofia? As a non-space scientist, the only Sofia result I recall was an occultation [...]
Can anyone here name a big advance that was enabled by Sophia?
The Pluto occultation is mentioned here as one of the science results of SOFIA (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive/sofia-successfully-observes-challenging-pluto-occultation). Maybe this will help - have a look at a decade of SOFIA results and papers here at the SOFIA Science Center (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive).
Thanks for the information, but my question was not "Where could I find Sophia results?". My question was "What Sophia results were striking enough that you recall them without looking them up?". The only one that occurred to me was the occultation, and I was wondering if that matched that of other participants here.
I’m less tuned in than many here, but all I can recall about SOFIA off hand is that it’s a big scope in the back of a plane, and I assumed it was a pretty minor NASA project in cost, since I had never heard of anything it did (but NASA has lots of small efforts that I wouldn’t necessarily hear about). Unpleasantly surprised to find it’s so pricey. So, sort of the same thoughts as you.
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the Kepler airborne observatory
Kuiper. And SOFIA, not Sophia (gosh I hate nitpicking, make no mistake).
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That low operational tempo really diminishes science return out of proportion to SOFIA’s high annual operating costs, which at about $85M/yr are second only to the Hubble Space Telescope at ~$300M/yr.
HST's current operating costs are only about 100 million a year
You’re right. I relied on an (apparently incorrect) article instead of going to the horse’s mouth in the NASA budget, which confirms a little less than $100M/yr.
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I think you and I are agreeing with each other. My point was--and here I'll repeat it so you don't miss it--" These kinds of decisions should be based upon many factors, of which cost is only one."
I helped write that last decadal, although not that part.
What I was getting at is that you cannot separate cost from these other factors. A SMEX like NuStar publishes fewer papers than Chandra, so in these absolute terms it is worse. But it also cost less, and this must be taken into account in any consideration of its scientific value because it takes up less room in the budget. Whatever metric of performance you use, it's ultimately relative to some cost level. This is why SOFIA is in trouble. It is not an argument based solely on cost, but it is informed by it.
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The 747 is disappearing from commercial airline service so the operating costs of SOFIA are only going to go up. And there might be better technical approaches. For example, the scientific balloons claim to able able to lift a 2721 kg payload up to 120,000 ft with a typical duration of 7-15 days. The long duration super pressure balloons claim 907 kg to 110,000 ft for up to 100 days. That would require a smaller telescope than SOFIA but the higher altitude would reduce the atmospheric noise and it might be possible to design for a lower operating temperature. The quoted mass of the SOFIA telescope is 17t, so for balloon use you would need a much smaller and lighter telescope design. ESA's Herschel mission had a 3.3m aperture telescope and a launch mass of 3400kg, so smaller and lighter is possible. Even if you were limited to flying in Antarctica, that would probably work because the galactic center and the Magellanic clouds are best seen from the Southern hemisphere.
Another possibility might be a solar powered airship or aircraft, but Congress would have to give NASA more money if they want NASA to explore that technology. Having a real science mission to perform would give the development program a goal to focus on which would increase the chance of it producing something useful.
https://www.nasa.gov/scientific-balloons/types-of-balloons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Space_Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_satellite
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If they cut SOFIA that would save $850 million over the course of a decade. That is over half of the cost of a Probe mission. The Decadal Survey recommended pursuing a probe mission in either the Far-IR or the X-ray bands. A Far-IR probe would do similar science to SOFIA but would probably be far more productive.
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The Pluto occultation is mentioned here as one of the science results of SOFIA (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive/sofia-successfully-observes-challenging-pluto-occultation). Maybe this will help - have a look at a decade of SOFIA results and papers here at the SOFIA Science Center (https://www.sofia.usra.edu/publications/science-results-archive).
Thanks for the information, but my question was not "Where could I find SOFIA results?". My question was "What SOFIA results were striking enough that you recall them without looking them up?". The only one that occurred to me was the occultation, and I was wondering if that matched that of other participants here.
Water on non-cold parts of the Moon: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon
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Well, I guess we can wrap up this thread.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-partner-decide-to-conclude-sofia-mission
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Thats good, Sofia was sucking up a lot of money without much in terms of science return for a while. Nasa has wanted the program shuttered for years
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Good news (mostly). I understand why Sofia is getting canceled, and I'm glad congress won't get the chance to make this an albatross chained around NASA. DLR also cancelling kinda takes it out of congresses hands.
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This probably does put the final nail in the coffin. But I wouldn’t declare victory until FY23 appropriations bills zero out or don’t mention SOFIA. For the purposes of lobbying, I’m sure advocates like USRA could figure out a way to at least notionally continue the program absent DLR involvement.
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I agree that this probably ends it. There is some stuff going on behind the scenes that I can't mention yet, but indicates that NASA is considering it over.
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I had toured the original Kuiper observatory, a walk through the C-141 about a month before it retired. I also went to walk through the brand new SOFIA observatory, the 747, as it was under development! The SOFIA telescope was installed, but the software wasn't complete. It was a fantastic experience. The end of an era now.
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DLR German Aerospace Center, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, Linder Hoehe, 51147 Koeln, Germany - https://www.DLR.de/en/
DLR Press Release, 28 April 2022
The airborne observatory SOFIA to end its mission after eight years of operations
Joint statement by NASA and DLR
In a joint statement, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) announced that they have decided to discontinue flight operations by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) in September 2022. “This decision is based on a recommendation contained in the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s ‘Decadal Survey’, which develops priorities for the long-term direction of astronomical research in the US. Acting on these recommendations is obligatory for NASA,” explained Walther Pelzer, DLR Executive Board Member and Head of the German Space Agency at DLR. “SOFIA is globally unique and, with the start of regular operations in 2014, has been successfully used for scientific research during a total of approximately 800 flights. The teams on both sides of the Atlantic have done an outstanding job. Our thanks go to them!”
“The cessation of SOFIA’s flight operations is by no means the end of German-American cooperation,” emphasised Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. “In a joint workshop to be held this summer, we want to work with DLR on new projects in future scientific fields.”
The scientific data acquired by SOFIA are available in NASA’s archives to astronomers worldwide. The Boeing 747 SP, which was converted into an observatory for infrared astronomy, completed its five-year prime mission in 2019 and this was extended for another three years until 2022. The SOFIA cooperation between NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR was set out in a mutual agreement. This specifies the distribution of the work packages. Germany supplied the world’s only 2.7-metre airborne telescope, which was built into the fuselage of SOFIA, and has contributed 20 percent of the operating costs. In return, groups of scientists from Germany were allocated about 30 science flights per year. NASA purchased the second-hand Boeing 747 and converted it for the installation of the telescope. NASA also operates the observatory from Palmdale in California, SOFIA’s home base.
SOFIA has completed approximately 100 scientific flights a year since 2014. During these flights, astronomical objects were observed, primarily in the Milky Way. The infrared observatory specialises in observations in the far infrared. It makes contributions to addressing questions in astrochemistry and astrophysics in particular. The first molecule that was formed in the Universe almost 14 billion years ago – helium hydride – was detected for the first time ever using SOFIA in 2019. This detection was achieved using the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) instrument, which was developed by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, the University of Cologne and the DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems in Berlin.
SOFIA has also explored how galaxies evolve and how stars and planetary systems form from interstellar molecular and dust clouds. This was made possible by the special telescope developed and manufactured in Germany, which has a diameter of 2.7 metres and weighs 17 tonnes. SOFIA can use six different scientific instruments, three of which were developed in Germany – two far-infrared instruments and one optical instrument.
The airborne observatory is stationed in Palmdale, California, from where it conducts most of its observation flights. However, it has also been used for astronomical observations around the world, most recently from Chile in March 2022 and from Cologne in March 2021. For observations of astronomical objects in the southern sky, SOFIA has also been operated from Christchurch in New Zealand.
The SOFIA project has been conducted by the German Space Agency at DLR with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz; BMWK), the state of Baden-Württemberg and the University of Stuttgart. The development of the German instruments was funded by the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; MPG), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) and DLR. Scientific operations were coordinated on the German side by the German SOFIA Institute (Deutsches SOFIA Institut; DSI) at the University of Stuttgart, and on the American side by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
Contacts
Elisabeth Mittelbach
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
German Space Agency at DLR
Telephone: +49 228 447-385
mailto:[email protected]
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For updates in German:
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There is a good chance this aircraft will end up in the museum at Pima.
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Is the telescope done? Or can any of it or the instruments see a second life?
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Somebody from Airliners.net said that the plane was getting close to needing a D check. That's an extremely long, complicated task that can involve considerable disassembly of the aircraft and would no doubt have some unique aspects for this one. That might be no small part in the decision to retire the program.
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Somebody from Airliners.net said that the plane was getting close to needing a D check. That's an extremely long, complicated task that can involve considerable disassembly of the aircraft and would no doubt have some unique aspects for this one. That might be no small part in the decision to retire the program.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP
Only 45 build, that's very few. And it has long been retired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP#Current_operators
No surprise heavy maintenance will cost a lot of money - spares must not that be easy to procure.
It's a pity they didn't used a plain old 747-400, but they certainly had good reasons to go for a SP (higher ceiling to look at the universe ? longer range ?)
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Somebody from Airliners.net said that the plane was getting close to needing a D check. That's an extremely long, complicated task that can involve considerable disassembly of the aircraft and would no doubt have some unique aspects for this one. That might be no small part in the decision to retire the program.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP
Only 45 build, that's very few. And it has long been retired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP#Current_operators
No surprise heavy maintenance will cost a lot of money - spares must not that be easy to procure.
It's a pity they didn't used a plain old 747-400, but they certainly had good reasons to go for a SP (higher ceiling to look at the universe ? longer range ?)
I'm rather fond of the 747SP. I have a neat little book about it. It was an oddball, and they sold fewer of them than they hoped. There are some nicer paint jobs for this plane. The United livery wasn't that good. I think it flew with a different, more interesting livery, prior to this one.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP
Only 45 build, that's very few. And it has long been retired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747SP#Current_operators
No surprise heavy maintenance will cost a lot of money - spares must not that be easy to procure.
It's a pity they didn't used a plain old 747-400, but they certainly had good reasons to go for a SP (higher ceiling to look at the universe ? longer range ?)
Going with an SP allowed for the longest possible observing flights per night.
I was in SOFIA's hangar in the past six months, they've got a supply of spare engines, and my understanding is that a good chunk of the storage in the hanger is given over to parts stores.
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I'm rather fond of the 747SP. I have a neat little book about it. It was an oddball, and they sold fewer of them than they hoped. There are some nicer paint jobs for this plane. The United livery wasn't that good. I think it flew with a different, more interesting livery, prior to this one.
SOFIA was from Pan Am.
https://www.facebook.com/PAAMUSEUM/photos/a.937472553261797/1396738797335168/?_rdr
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I was in SOFIA's hangar in the past six months, they've got a supply of spare engines, and my understanding is the a good chunk of the storage in the hanger is given over to parts stores.
They got the engines (I think) from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
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I was in SOFIA's hangar in the past six months, they've got a supply of spare engines, and my understanding is the a good chunk of the storage in the hanger is given over to parts stores.
They got the engines (I think) from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
Yes, and that SCA is a few blocks away from SOFIA at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale.
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This book is pretty nice. I have a copy. It's somewhat rare and copies sell for a decent amount of money. This was published in 1997 and predates SOFIA.
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Is the telescope done? Or can any of it or the instruments see a second life?
It is not that hard to imagine a telescope similar to the one in the SOFIA looking out of the enlarge cargo port of a shiny vehicle in orbit for a few weeks at a time. However it is unlikely that the SOFIA telescope was design for orbital launch.
The telescope is likely to be retired to a museum. Its technology is over 10 years old and a replacement aircraft observatory is not on the horizon. The telescope is relatively small to be able to be installed in an aircraft.
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DLR’s contractor for SOFIA operations, DSI, is petitioning (at least via online statement) the US Congress to fund SOFIA for another year:
Another factor that adds weight to NASA’s plans to shut down SOFIA is the agreement with its German partner on the program, the DLR space agency, to end SOFIA operations by Sept. 30. In previous years, NASA and DLR had not announced similar arrangements.
That agreement was criticized in a May 3 statement by Deutsche SOFIA Institut (DSI), the German organization that handles operations of Germany’s share of SOFIA. DSI “distances itself from the justification for this decision,” complaining, as SOFIA’s American backers have previously said, that the decadal survey based its decision on old information and did not consider improvements intended to increase SOFIA’s efficiency.
Alfred Krabbe, head of DSI, said in the statement that he hopes Congress restores funding for SOFIA for at least one more year, adding that the James Webb Space Telescope cannot replace SOFIA since SOFIA operates at longer infrared wavelengths than what JWST can observe. Congress, he noted, has supported SOFIA in the past.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-defends-decision-to-shut-down-sofia/
DSI’s statement (in German) here:
https://www.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/
English translation here:
https://www-dsi-uni--stuttgart-de.translate.goog/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings...
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DLR’s contractor for SOFIA operations, DSI, is petitioning (at least via online statement) the US Congress to fund SOFIA for another year:
Another factor that adds weight to NASA’s plans to shut down SOFIA is the agreement with its German partner on the program, the DLR space agency, to end SOFIA operations by Sept. 30. In previous years, NASA and DLR had not announced similar arrangements.
That agreement was criticized in a May 3 statement by Deutsche SOFIA Institut (DSI), the German organization that handles operations of Germany’s share of SOFIA. DSI “distances itself from the justification for this decision,” complaining, as SOFIA’s American backers have previously said, that the decadal survey based its decision on old information and did not consider improvements intended to increase SOFIA’s efficiency.
Alfred Krabbe, head of DSI, said in the statement that he hopes Congress restores funding for SOFIA for at least one more year, adding that the James Webb Space Telescope cannot replace SOFIA since SOFIA operates at longer infrared wavelengths than what JWST can observe. Congress, he noted, has supported SOFIA in the past.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-defends-decision-to-shut-down-sofia/
DSI’s statement (in German) here:
https://www.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/
English translation here:
https://www-dsi-uni--stuttgart-de.translate.goog/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings...
Don't do it congress!
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DLR’s contractor for SOFIA operations, DSI, is petitioning (at least via online statement) the US Congress to fund SOFIA for another year:
Another factor that adds weight to NASA’s plans to shut down SOFIA is the agreement with its German partner on the program, the DLR space agency, to end SOFIA operations by Sept. 30. In previous years, NASA and DLR had not announced similar arrangements.
That agreement was criticized in a May 3 statement by Deutsche SOFIA Institut (DSI), the German organization that handles operations of Germany’s share of SOFIA. DSI “distances itself from the justification for this decision,” complaining, as SOFIA’s American backers have previously said, that the decadal survey based its decision on old information and did not consider improvements intended to increase SOFIA’s efficiency.
Alfred Krabbe, head of DSI, said in the statement that he hopes Congress restores funding for SOFIA for at least one more year, adding that the James Webb Space Telescope cannot replace SOFIA since SOFIA operates at longer infrared wavelengths than what JWST can observe. Congress, he noted, has supported SOFIA in the past.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-defends-decision-to-shut-down-sofia/
DSI’s statement (in German) here:
https://www.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/
English translation here:
https://www-dsi-uni--stuttgart-de.translate.goog/institut/aktuelles/news/SOFIA--Das-letzte-Wort-ist-noch-nicht-gesprochen/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings...
DSI really seems to care about SOFIA. Could Germany buy the plane and assume all costs in order to continue without costs to the USA? Or are there fundamental limitations to transferring the observatory to Germany?
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DSI really seems to care about SOFIA.
DSI stands for Deutsch SOFIA Institute. SOFIA is all they do. That’s why they care. They’re out of a job when SOFIA shuts down.
Could Germany buy the plane and assume all costs in order to continue without costs to the USA? Or are there fundamental limitations to transferring the observatory to Germany?
If you mean physically transferring the observatory to German soil, I think the main obstacle would be expertise. I doubt most of the SOFIA team in California wants to move to Germany.
DLR and the German R&D or finance ministry obviously aren’t going to pay the full freight on SOFIA if it stays in the US. And if they wanted to pay to reconstitute SOFIA in Germany, they would already be moving in that direction instead of putting out statements agreeing with the Administration and NASA’s decision to terminate.
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Where is ESA when you need it ? A pity they can't takeover that thing, from the German side. But as usual - no bucks, no buck rogers.
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Where is ESA when you need it ? A pity they can't takeover that thing, from the German side. But as usual - no bucks, no buck rogers.
The thing is awfully expensive for the science that it produces. It cost a bit less than a New Frontiers mission, of less than a Discovery of science.
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Where is ESA when you need it ? A pity they can't takeover that thing, from the German side. But as usual - no bucks, no buck rogers.
The thing is awfully expensive for the science that it produces. It cost a bit less than a New Frontiers mission, of less than a Discovery of science.
The German sources above are not concerned about cost at all. They show DSI very very concerned about loss of science now that the program is running nicely and they publish more and more papers. Hence, if Germany/ESA eats the costs, who knows.
EDIT: To be clear, I am not promoting any extension of SOFIA or what-if discussion. Just factually observing that DSI is not mentioning cost. If Germany was THAT interested in continuing they (DSI+DLR+ESA) probably should have the discussion with NASA a few years ago.
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https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1537159142929858560
“USRA looks forward to partner with NASA to ensure the safe fly out of SOFIA and ensure that its science legacy is captured appropriately for the astronomical community.”
There is a SOFIA town hall tonight at #AAS240.
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https://spacenews.com/astronomers-want-strong-finish-for-sofia/
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Returning to New Zealand: SOFIA Travels to Christchurch for a Seventh and Final Time
By Maggie McAdam
June 18, 2022
After a two-year hiatus, SOFIA has returned to Christchurch, New Zealand, for a long deployment. About once a year, SOFIA temporarily moves its operating home to better observe celestial objects in the Southern Hemisphere.
There is always a high demand from the SOFIA scientific community to observe the southern skies, and SOFIA has been working to meet those needs. This year, we already deployed once to Santiago, Chile, for a quick, two-week deployment to observe the Large Magellanic Cloud. Now SOFIA is heading back to New Zealand for the seventh and final time.
“We are thrilled to be returning to Christchurch to continue to study and discover the infrared universe,” said Naseem Rangwala, the SOFIA project scientist.
SOFIA has made 12 deployments over its operational lifetime, generally leaving Palmdale, California, to observe celestial objects and phenomena not visible from its home skies. We observed occultations in Florida and New Zealand, as well as atomic oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, stellar feedback, and magnetic fields from German soil.
Christchurch is often SOFIA’s home-away-from-home when deploying overseas. This time, SOFIA plans to conduct 32 flights to observe a wide range of celestial objects and phenomena, like cosmic magnetic fields, stellar feedback, and cosmic rays, using two instruments, HAWC+ and GREAT.
Probing the Magnetic Universe
Sticking relatively close to our cosmic home, SOFIA will start by investigating our galaxy, the Milky Way. A team of researchers is mapping the magnetic fields within the Milky Way’s central regions. These data will complement a previous Legacy Program that made mid-infrared images of the Milky Way. This work is similar to other cosmic magnetic field studies that map the shape and strength of this invisible force in other galaxies. SOFIA can detect cosmic magnetic fields on many scales, including star formation scales, especially along filaments.
SOFIA will also be looking at magnetic fields in filaments of material in our galaxy. These filaments are thread-like structures full of cold gas and dust. Most stars form in these dark rivers of material. A team of scientists will be investigating how magnetic fields play a role in star formation in filaments.
Stars Blowing Bubbles and a Barometer for Cosmic Rays
After HAWC+ finishes up probing the magnetic universe, SOFIA’s operations team will swap the instrument for the German PI-led GREAT instrument. GREAT does a wide variety of studies including looking at stellar feedback – how some stars can affect the regions around them. Young massive stars create huge winds that blow out into the surrounding dusty material, sometimes blowing celestial bubbles. As they do this, the stellar winds plow into the material and sometimes can trigger or quench star formation. Scientists want to understand when and why star formation is turned on or off.
GREAT, like the radio in your car, can be tuned to be sensitive to specific signals. During the New Zealand deployment, it will be set to register hydride molecules. These molecules were some of the first types that formed in our universe, and, even now, they are sometimes created in other environments. When scientists detect hydrides, they can use them as sensitive barometers for the presence of cosmic rays, high energy particles that travel close to the speed of light.
Hydride molecules form in very specific circumstances, and, usually, scientists can determine their production rate. At the same time, these molecules are quite delicate and can easily be destroyed by passing cosmic rays. Understanding the balance between their production and destruction can provide clues to the abundance of cosmic rays.
Scientists have measured the cosmic rays produced by our Sun and understand them very well, but do not fully understand cosmic rays that originate from outside our solar system. Using hydride molecules, researchers will investigate how abundant cosmic rays are in environments outside our solar system.
A Strong Finish
Many of the key celestial objects for astronomers, like the center of the Milky Way, are either visible only from the Southern Hemisphere or more easily observed from these latitudes. Three years after SOFIA achieved first light in 2010, the observatory made its first trip to New Zealand. Now, nine years later and with six previous trips to Christchurch, this will be SOFIA’s last international deployment.
NASA and DLR recently announced the conclusion of the SOFIA mission. SOFIA will operate for the rest of fiscal year 2022, before entering an orderly shutdown process on October 1, 2022.
“We are committed to delivering a strong finish for this unique astrophysics mission, from a place of strength and pride, by giving our scientific community as much data as possible from the Southern Hemisphere,” Dr. Rangwala said. Moving forward, SOFIA’s data will be available in NASA’s public archives for astronomers worldwide to use.
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR. DLR provides the telescope, scheduled aircraft maintenance, and other support for the mission. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/06/18/new-zealand/
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https://spacenews.com/house-appropriators-partially-restore-funding-for-planetary-defense-mission/
The committee criticized, but did not reject, NASA’s plans to terminate the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 with an infrared telescope, at the end of the current fiscal year in September. While appropriators said they were concerned about NASA’s decision to terminate SOFIA without a formal senior review, they only directed NASA to provide a report “on NASA’s strategy to mitigate the science and data collection that will no longer be produced by SOFIA.” It also provides $30 million to close out the SOFIA project, $20 million more than what NASA requested.
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https://spacenews.com/house-appropriators-partially-restore-funding-for-planetary-defense-mission/
The committee criticized, but did not reject, NASA’s plans to terminate the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 with an infrared telescope, at the end of the current fiscal year in September. While appropriators said they were concerned about NASA’s decision to terminate SOFIA without a formal senior review, they only directed NASA to provide a report “on NASA’s strategy to mitigate the science and data collection that will no longer be produced by SOFIA.” It also provides $30 million to close out the SOFIA project, $20 million more than what NASA requested.
Funny, isn't NASA legally banned from a formal senior review of SOFIA?
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Funny, isn't NASA legally banned from a formal senior review of SOFIA?
I believe that was the case. And the decadal survey was given the task of reviewing SOFIA because there was no senior review.
On the one hand, this is Congress being nasty, criticizing NASA for not doing something that Congress told NASA not to do. Buncha hypocrites.
On the other hand... you have to think about what Congress is. It's not a single entity. It is not even 535 members. It is 535 members voting constantly, changing their positions slightly, and changing over time. So the Congress that passed that legislation years ago no longer exists now. And even if it did, the people writing that language now may have disagreed with what Congress did years ago, and this is their opportunity to voice their frustrations over it. For no real impact.
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SOFIA Adjusts Science Planning Following Damage to Aircraft (https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/07/21/sofia-adjusts-science-planning-following-damage-to-aircraft/)
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is adjusting its science observation plans and canceling the remainder of its Southern Hemisphere deployment following damage to the aircraft caused by severe weather on Monday, July 18. SOFIA is currently operating out of Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand to better observe celestial objects in the southern skies.
The SOFIA team has determined the needed repairs will take at least three weeks, eliminating the possibility of conducting the remaining science observation flights that were planned from New Zealand through August 7.
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Most recent updates:
Aug 15: SOFIA Returns from New Zealand Deployment
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/08/15/sofia-returns-from-new-zealand-deployment/ (https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/08/15/sofia-returns-from-new-zealand-deployment/)
Aug 26: SOFIA Finds More Water in the Moon’s Southern Hemisphere
Image caption: "The image shows flux data obtained by SOFIA’s FORCAST instrument overlaid on an orthographic projection of the Moon, creating a map of water abundances in the Moretus Crater region. Surface lunar features are clearly visible within the flux data. In this image, lighter colors correspond to a higher flux, and darker corresponds to a lower flux. Credit: Honniball et al. and Applied Coherent Technology Corp. The Moon reference image is constructed using the LRO-WAC albedo mosaic."
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/08/26/sofia-finds-more-water-in-the-moons-southern-hemisphere/ (https://blogs.nasa.gov/sofia/2022/08/26/sofia-finds-more-water-in-the-moons-southern-hemisphere/)
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https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1574458685501444106
The last SOFIA science flight is tonight, NASA’s Mark Clampin says at an Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Cmte meeting today, ahead of the end of the fiscal year Friday. An “orderly shutdown” of the project will take place, including disposition by the GSA of the Boeing 747.
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According to this, SOFIA should fly Tuesday and Wednesday: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/science/proposing-and-observing/flights/series/oc9w
Final flight looks like it overflies NASA Ames, where it was originally going to be housed.
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I got confirmation that the tweet was in error. The final flight will be Wednesday.
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DSI really seems to care about SOFIA.
DSI stands for Deutsch SOFIA Institute. SOFIA is all they do. That’s why they care. They’re out of a job when SOFIA shuts down.
Could Germany buy the plane and assume all costs in order to continue without costs to the USA? Or are there fundamental limitations to transferring the observatory to Germany?
If you mean physically transferring the observatory to German soil, I think the main obstacle would be expertise. I doubt most of the SOFIA team in California wants to move to Germany.
DLR and the German R&D or finance ministry obviously aren’t going to pay the full freight on SOFIA if it stays in the US. And if they wanted to pay to reconstitute SOFIA in Germany, they would already be moving in that direction instead of putting out statements agreeing with the Administration and NASA’s decision to terminate.
An unformed thought occurred. Remove the heavy insides and give/sell/transition it to Virgin Orbit as a carrier aircraft?
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An unformed thought occurred. Remove the heavy insides and give/sell/transition it to Virgin Orbit as a carrier aircraft?
VO's other 747 is a much more modern version. They are going to want a copy of that one, and there are many available. They are not going to want an early and unique 747SP.
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Strip out the scientific gear and put it aboard a dedicated science Starship.
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Strip out the scientific gear and put it aboard a dedicated science Starship.
It would almost certainly be cheaper to build a new telescope from scratch.
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SOFIA’s 747SP was also mostly and uniquely rewired at ARC, and it’s not reliable. Any buyer wanting to get useful service out of their aircraft would look elsewhere.
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Strip out the scientific gear and put it aboard a dedicated science Starship.
It would almost certainly be cheaper to build a new telescope from scratch.
Starship makes everything better.
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VO's other 747 is a much more modern version. They are going to want a copy of that one, and there are many available. They are not going to want an early and unique 747SP.
IIRC, there are also life-limited components specific to the SP that are not interchangeable with other 747s and are difficult to find any more (I recall that's what finally grounded "Star Triple Seven"). The SP is a neat and interesting 747 variant, but it's awfully hard to justify the effort and expense to keep them flying.
Jodie Peeler
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So what happens now?
I have heard rumors (hint) that the SOFIA 747SP is going to end up in the big air museum at Pima. Part of the space telescope could end up with the NASM, although I don't know how that would really work. It's a big object that would have to be removed from the aircraft and transported. Also, I think that technically the Germans own the telescope, and they may get dibs on what happens to it.
(I should apologize: this is not really an update on SOFIA. But there's no other place to discuss SOFIA, and we are unlikely to get any more news on it.)
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It would be a bit sad that the telescope and 747 ended separated by some thousand miles... whatever, Pima aviation museum would be a pretty good resting place for SOFIA. With or without the telescope.
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In its lifetime, SOFIA made a total of 732 nights of observations. This map shows all of SOFIA’s science flights, color coded by observation cycle.
Map data ©2022 Google, INEGI Imagery ©2022 NASA, TerraMetrics
https://twitter.com/SOFIAtelescope/status/1579949954771996672
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So what happens now?
<snip>
Part of the space telescope could end up with the NASM, although I don't know how that would really work. It's a big object that would have to be removed from the aircraft and transported. Also, I think that technically the Germans own the telescope, and they may get dibs on what happens to it.
<snip>
:)
Semi seriously. Maybe the telescope could be re-worked to fly in an orbital vehicle periodically to orbit. Otherwise most likely expect the telescope to be put in a museum.
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A farewell to airborne astronomy
Niamh Shaw takes a trip on one of the final flights of the plane carrying the SOFIA observatory
https://c01.purpledshub.com/bbcskyatnight/2022/10/20/a-farewell-to-airborne-astronomy/
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Random thought
I hope both the telescope and the Boeing 747 that was used for Sofia are preserved. As for taking the telescope to a museum - the easiest way might be for that 747 to fly a couple more times - first to deliver the telescope which would be removed close to the museum and the second time to it's destination.
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SOFIA arriving at Pima:
https://twitter.com/pimaairfans/status/1598939686101479424
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SOFIA should be taking off sometime today, headed towards Pima:
https://www.avpress.com/news/sofia-taking-off-for-final-home-arizona-museum/article_2786db96-7841-11ed-b6c0-f33e37f22a97.html (https://www.avpress.com/news/sofia-taking-off-for-final-home-arizona-museum/article_2786db96-7841-11ed-b6c0-f33e37f22a97.html)
I have been unable to find out when exactly today she'll take off.
I've been meaning to post this for a while (though it was still a little old when I found it), and I figure that I should post it now and not later so as to not get in the way of anyone wanting to talk about today's main event:
This was an interview on Planetary Radio with Margaret Meixner, Director of SOFIA Science Mission Operations just prior to SOFIA's last science flight (so kind of an old update):
https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-sofia-margaret-meixner (https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-sofia-margaret-meixner)
IIRC, most of it was about the actual science objectives of the flight itself. Naturally, she wanted it to be flying a little longer, but I don't intend to start any new discussions on the matter here (all most of what could be said on the matter has already been said in this thread).
Also, I just found this (while looking for updates about today's flight), so I figured I may as well post it:
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/if-there-is-phosphine-on-venus-there-isnt-much (https://eos.org/research-spotlights/if-there-is-phosphine-on-venus-there-isnt-much)
It's from a couple of weeks ago. It discusses a recent analysis of SOFIA data over the course of 3 flights. I'm also posting it to the Astronomy & Science thread, since I think that discussion (if any) on this update should probably go there.
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So sad to see such an iconic plane slip into retirement. She'll be missed
https://twitter.com/SpaceIntellige3/status/1602737635482402817
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SOFIA 747 Landed in Tucson, Arizona, US.
https://twitter.com/NASAPlanes/status/1602733528227237891
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Did they remove the telescope from it?
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Made it to Tucson yesterday, and my final flight crew signed my nose. Thanks for taking such good care of me and for getting me to my new home!
https://twitter.com/SOFIAtelescope/status/1603147389828751360
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The Pima Air and Space Museum is featuring SOFIA on their facebook feed
https://www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace/ (https://www.facebook.com/PimaAirAndSpace/)
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Did they remove the telescope from it?
The final flight had a pair of telescope engineers on it.
I suspect that removing the telescope would involve non-trivial amounts of money, so they probably just left it in.
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Wouldn't it be nice if they could still operate the telescope from it, standing on the ground? Would make for some great educational moments.
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Wouldn't it be nice if they could still operate the telescope from it, standing on the ground? Would make for some great educational moments.
The scope can’t see anything from the ground. Those wavelengths don’t reach surface scopes. That’s why this scope had to be flown on a 747.
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Some news on the telescope - NASA have issued an RFQ for "Mobile Crane Operations for SOFIA Telescope Mirror Extraction"
https://sam.gov/opp/62144c69dc974a839da6d35be8cd7c08/view (https://sam.gov/opp/62144c69dc974a839da6d35be8cd7c08/view)
From the RFQ statement of work:
Introduction & Background
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an international science program with joint participation by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the German DLR (German Aerospace Center). SOFIA completed its scientific mission in September 2022, and has been transferred to the Pima Air & Space Museum (PASM), Tucson, AZ, for public display. NASA is conducting a series of closeout activities at PASM to remove needed or high value items, such as telescope instrumentation, and is returning this materiel back to NASA and DLR for future use. The aircraft is a 747SP design (tail number N747NA) with the Telescope Assembly being provided by DLR.
Scope
NASA plans to remove the SOFIA telescope primary mirror assembly (PMA), tertiary mirror assembly (TMA), and related hardware, and to replace it with ‘dummy’ hardware. This will require multiple, closely coordinated and monitored lift operations. NASA will use a mobile crane and other lifting equipment (e.g., forklift, scissor lift, cherry picker, and other elevated work platforms, etc.) for the lift and extraction work. Crane equipment & operator will adhere to local and NASA requirements for quality and safety assurance. If there’s a difference between local and NASA lift requirements, the more stringent of the requirements will be used.
Schedule
Work should be scheduled NTE March 27, 2023, and completed NLT May 15, 2023. A day-by-day schedule will be provided prior to the initial start of the operation.
RFQ document attached (most of it is contractual stuff, only the first couple of pages are of interest).
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The NASM may be interested in the telescope.
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Wouldn't it be nice if they could still operate the telescope from it, standing on the ground? Would make for some great educational moments.
The scope can’t see anything from the ground. Those wavelengths don’t reach surface scopes. That’s why this scope had to be flown on a 747.
Even if you decided to re-instrument the detectors and use the mirror to collect visible light, it would be a non-starter. The telescope is only free to tilt up-and-down. For the other directions you would point the telescope by pointing the plane (which meant that the flight-plans for SOFIA were essentially a puzzle assembled by thinking about what astronomical targets they were looking at on a given night).
Pointing a telescope by moving around a 747 on the ground would be nuts, and not cheap. I flew on SOFIA several times, and was once on the flight deck for takeoff. Taxiing from the hanger to the runway, I was watching the fuel gauge. The plane burned a literal ton of jet fuel just to get to the point where she could accelerate down the runway.
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Thanks for the info about the telescope. Makes the EQ-mount for my own 10-cm. Newtonian seem very simple...
At least the didn't have to bank the plane to tilt the telescope up and down!
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The NASM may be interested in the telescope.
Makes some sense. The space astronomy hardware goes to the NASM / Smithsonian - like such items as the Hubble spare mirror.
As for the 747, it goes to an aviation museum, with a dummy telescope instead of the real thing.
I don't think it is shocking to have the two dissociated from each others - if that allows both to be preserved...
It would be a far better fate than that other massively transformed 747 from the 2000's - the one that carried the big missile defense laser: YAL-1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_YAL-1
In December 2011, it was reported that the project was to be ended after 16 years of development and a cost of over US$5 billion.[23][24] While in its current form, a relatively low power laser mounted on an unprotected airliner may not be a practical or defensible weapon, the YAL-1 testbed is considered to have proven that air mounted energy weapons with increased range and power could be another viable way of destroying otherwise very difficult to intercept sub-orbital ballistic missiles and rockets. On 12 February 2012, the YAL-1 flew its final flight and landed at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, where it was placed in storage at the AMARG until it was ultimately scrapped in September 2014 after all usable parts were removed.[
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https://twitter.com/Boneyardsafari/status/1648519524604575744
Today Sofia 747SP N747NA had the tertiary mirror assembly removed as it is going to Germany to be on display at a museum to inspire future generations. Our hats are off to Pima Air and Space, NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and [??]
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The mirror coating system used for SOFIA will be moved from Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) to Ames Research Center (ARC)
https://sam.gov/opp/8ad2926e61b840c0baa8f9f7cd6ce546/view (https://sam.gov/opp/8ad2926e61b840c0baa8f9f7cd6ce546/view)
Pre-Solicitation Notice of Intent
Published Date: November 06, 2023
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) has a requirement to plan and execute the move of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Mirror Coater and Ground Support Equipment from the current site in building 703 at the Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Palmdale, CA, to ARC, Moffett Field, CA. The contract will include dismantling, packaging, transportation, and unloading. Reassembly, installation, activation, and performance testing will not be included in this contract.
NASA/ARC intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire the services from Vacuum Technology Associates, Inc. (Dynavac) under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) and FAR 13.501(a)(1). Competition is limited due to the unique qualifications and capabilities that Dynavac possesses, which are currently not available from any other known source.