Single Aperture Large Telescope for Universe Studies: science overview

Gordon Chin; Carrie M. Anderson; Jennifer Bergner; Nicolas Biver; Gordon L. Bjoraker; Thibault Cavalie; Michael DiSanti; Jian-Rong Gao; Paul Hartogh; Leon K. Harding; Qing Hu; Daewook Kim; Craig Kulesa; Gert de Lange; David T. Leisawitz; Rebecca C. Levy; Arthur Lichtenberger; Daniel P. Marrone; Joan Najita; Trent Newswander; George H. Rieke; Dimitra Rigopoulou; Peter Roelfsema; Nathan X. Roth; Kamber Schwarz; Yancy Shirley; Justin Spilker; Anthony A. Stark; Floris van der Tak; Yuzuru Takashima; Alexander Tielens; David J. Wilner; Edward J. Wollack; Stephen Yates; Erick Young; Christopher K. Walker

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.10.4.042310

19 December 2024 Single Aperture Large Telescope for Universe Studies: science overview

Gordon Chin, Carrie M. Anderson, Jennifer Bergner, Nicolas Biver, Gordon L. Bjoraker, Thibault Cavalie, Michael DiSanti, Jian-Rong Gao, Paul Hartogh, Leon K. Harding, Qing Hu, Daewook Kim, Craig Kulesa, Gert de Lange, David T. Leisawitz, Rebecca C. Levy, Arthur Lichtenberger, Daniel P. Marrone, Joan Najita, Trent Newswander, George H. Rieke, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Peter Roelfsema, Nathan X. Roth, Kamber Schwarz, Yancy Shirley, Justin Spilker, Anthony A. Stark, Floris van der Tak, Yuzuru Takashima, Alexander Tielens, David J. Wilner, Edward J. Wollack, Stephen Yates, Erick Young, Christopher K. Walker

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Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 10, Issue 4, 042310 (December 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.4.042310

Abstract

The Single Aperture Large Telescope for Universe Studies (SALTUS) probe mission will provide a powerful far-infrared (far-IR) pointed space observatory to explore our cosmic origins and the possibility of life elsewhere. The observatory employs an innovative deployable 14-m aperture, with a sunshield that will radiatively cool the off-axis primary to <45 K. This cooled primary reflector works in tandem with cryogenic coherent and incoherent instruments that span 34- to 660-μm far-IR range at both high and moderate spectral resolutions. The mission architecture, using proven Northrop Grumman designs, provides visibility to the entire sky every 6 months with ∼35% of the sky observable at any one time. SALTUS’s spectral range is unavailable to any existing ground or current space observatory. SALTUS will have 16× the collecting area and 4× the angular resolution of Herschel and is designed for a lifetime of ≥5 years. The SALTUS science team has proposed a Guaranteed Time Observations program to demonstrate the observatory’s capabilities and, at the same time, address high-priority questions from the Decadal survey that align with NASA’s Astrophysics Roadmap. With a large aperture enabling high spatial resolution and sensitive instruments, SALTUS will offer >80% of its available observing time to Guest Observer programs, providing the science community with powerful capabilities to study the local and distant universe with observations of 1000s of diverse targets such as distant and nearby galaxies, star-forming regions, protoplanetary disks, and solar system objects.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Gordon Chin, Carrie M. Anderson, Jennifer Bergner, Nicolas Biver, Gordon L. Bjoraker, Thibault Cavalie, Michael DiSanti, Jian-Rong Gao, Paul Hartogh, Leon K. Harding, Qing Hu, Daewook Kim, Craig Kulesa, Gert de Lange, David T. Leisawitz, Rebecca C. Levy, Arthur Lichtenberger, Daniel P. Marrone, Joan Najita, Trent Newswander, George H. Rieke, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Peter Roelfsema, Nathan X. Roth, Kamber Schwarz, Yancy Shirley, Justin Spilker, Anthony A. Stark, Floris van der Tak, Yuzuru Takashima, Alexander Tielens, David J. Wilner, Edward J. Wollack, Stephen Yates, Erick Young, and Christopher K. Walker "Single Aperture Large Telescope for Universe Studies: science overview," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 10(4), 042310 (19 December 2024). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.4.042310

Received: 18 May 2024; Accepted: 22 November 2024; Published: 19 December 2024

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