Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Oct 7 2024
NASA has chosen a $5 million proposal led by an astronomy professor from the University of Massachusetts to create new space satellite missions that fill in knowledge gaps about the universe’s evolution.
Alexandra Pope. Image Credit: University of Massachusetts Amherst
NASA has selected two teams, including Alexandra Pope of UMass Amherst, to carry out 12-month mission concepts to observe X-ray and far-infrared light wavelengths from space. PRIMA, or the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics, is being developed by Pope’s group. NASA anticipates choosing one concept in 2026 to move forward with the $1 billion construction after carefully evaluating each $5 million study. The launch is anticipated to take place in 2032.
One of the things that is so exciting about PRIMA is that it is going to fill in the gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and the Alma Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, in Chile.
Alexandra Pope, Professor, Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts in Amherst
Both telescopes can see the infrared spectrum's bookends. PRIMA is useful because no telescopes can observe between 28 and 300 microns, whereas JWST and ALMA can see up to 28 microns and above 300 microns, respectively.
Pope added, “It is an enormous gap and filling it will not only allow us to address three key science goals, it will open vast areas of research to the wider astronomy community.”
The PRIMA team's investigation focuses on three fundamental scientific questions. Jason Glenn, a principal investigator from the Goddard Space Flight Center, leads the team.
The team's first goal is to comprehend how planets create their atmospheres, specifically how water ends up on a planet. Thanks to infrared spectroscopy, astronomers will be able to follow cool water—a necessary component of life as we know it—in disks that are forming planets as they come together.
The co-evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies will be examined in the second theme.
Third, in addition to the first two elements released by the Big Bang (hydrogen and helium), the team is interested in how the universe assembled the more complex elements of the periodic table.
Although there are several approaches to this, it will employ PRIMA’s infrared sensors to investigate cosmic dust in various settings and at various points in time throughout the cosmos. The team aims to measure the properties of various samples to comprehend how the elements changed over time.
Of course, before PRIMA can do any of this, it must pass the final round of selection. The chosen mission concept will receive $1 billion to develop the first of a new class of NASA astrophysics missions under the agency's long-standing Explorers Program. The new mission class, Probe Explorers, will bridge the gap between NASA's flagship and smaller-scale missions in its quest to uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Pope's role as science lead is to oversee the development of research questions and experiments that will determine which instruments are deployed aboard the satellite and how they are designed. She is particularly excited about PRIMA's ability to investigate the relationship between supermassive black holes and galaxies.
“My group at UMass Amherst studies the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. I have spent my career working on this, and PRIMA is the ultimate tool that can help us understand the relationship between the two,” Pope added.
Astronomers currently believe that every massive galaxy, including the Milky Way, contains a supermassive black hole at its center, and the two appear to be proportional in size.
Pope further added, “This might seem obvious. but the way that galaxies and black holes grow are very different.” How the two co-evolve remains an open question, which PRIMA is primed to help answer, because its IR instruments will be able to peer through the cosmic dust that cloaks both black holes and galaxies.”
Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, added, “NASA’s Explorers Program brings out some of the most creative ideas for missions that help us reveal the unknown about our universe. Establishing this new line of missions — the largest our astrophysics program has ever competed — has taken that creativity to new height. Both of the selected concepts could enable ground-breaking science responsive to the top astrophysics priorities of the decade, develop key technologies for future flagship missions, and offer opportunities for the entire community to use the new observatory, for the benefit of all.”
NASA was advised to create this new mission class by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 2020 Decadal Survey, Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s.
The first mission would observe either X-ray or far-infrared light wavelengths. The rocket, launch services, and any other contributions are not included in the $1 billion mission cost cap for the new Probe Explorers.
The oldest ongoing NASA program, the Explorers Program, was created to offer regular, affordable space access through principal investigator-led space science studies related to the astrophysics and heliophysics programs of the Science Mission Directorate.
The Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions since the launch of Explorer 1, which found Earth's radiation belts in 1958. Two of these missions, Uhuru and Cosmic Background Explorer, were awarded Nobel prizes for their research.
Pope concluded, “It is an honor to be the science lead for PRIMA and to bring the perspective and culture of public research universities to our collaboration with our NASA partners.”