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Astrophysics Division Update Presented to the Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee

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Astrophysics Division Update Presented to the Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee Astrophysics Division Update Presented to the Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee Dr. Jon Morse Director, Astrophysics Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters 22 February 2011 Outline • Science Highlights • Programmatic Update • Budget Update • Issues and Concerns 2 Hubble Finds Most Distant Galaxy Candidate Ever Seen in Universe The farthest and one of the very earliest galaxies ever seen in the universe appears as a faint red blob in this ultra-deep–field exposure taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This is the deepest infrared image taken of the universe. Based on the object's color, astronomers believe it is 13.2 billion light-years away. The proto-galaxy is only visible at the farthest infrared wavelengths observable by Hubble. Observations of earlier times, when the first stars and galaxies were forming, will require Hubble‟s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). 3 Kepler Mission Data Release New Data Released to Public Six New Exoplanets Confirmed Previous New • Kepler has released data on 155,453 stars and on the • Kepler has found six confirmed planets orbiting a sun-like 1,235 planetary candidates that it has discovered in the star, Kepler-11, located ~2000 light years from Earth. first 4 months of science operations. • This is the largest group of transiting planets orbiting a • The planetary candidates include: 68 of Earth-size, 288 single star yet discovered outside our solar system. of super-Earth-size, 662 of Neptune-size, 165 of Jupiter- • The five inner planets comprise the most closely-spaced size, and 19 larger than Jupiter. planetary system known, with orbits smaller than • 54 planetary candidates are in the habitable zone of Mercury‟s. their host stars, a region where liquid water could exist • All of the planets orbiting Kepler-11 are larger than Earth, on a planet‟s surface. The 5 smallest of these range in with the largest ones being comparable in size to Uranus size from 0.9 to twice the size of the Earth. and Neptune. • 170 stars show evidence of multiple planetary • The planets Kepler-11d, Kepler-11e and Kepler-11f have a candidates. significant amount of light gas, which indicates that they • Planet candidates still require follow-up observations to formed within a few million years of the system‟s verify they are actual planets. formation. 4 Fermi Update • Fermi was the most productive prime mission in 2010 and in 2009 with 1.1% and 0.8 % of all science discoveries for these two years as reported by Science News . • Call for Cycle 4 recently closed. • More than 200 proposals received (about 10% increase from Cycle 3). Map of all terrestrial gamma-ray flashes detected by Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor through the end of 2010. 5 Programmatic Update 6 Astrophysics NextMissions Senior Review in 2012 (ESA, CSA) (JAXA) (ESA) (ASI, Denmark) (DLR) (ESA, UK, Netherlands) (ASI, CNES, UK) (DOE, Intl team) (JAXA) (ASI, UK) (South Korea) (ESA) (ESA) (ESA) 7 Astrophysics Mission Events CY2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Mission Feb Jul Feb Apr Launches etc. NuSTAR LPF/ST-7 Astro-H GEMS (TBD) Suborbital Jan MarApr AprApr JunSepSep Oct Oct DecTBDTBD TBDTBD TBDTBD TBD TBD TBD Rocket Program. F E PI I F C A X S M X F rE A rX F X A A E I X C M O I C Q L i A U X C Q O A C C X R O T A R B C C I c C S O C C R C C C O E S U G T E E 4 C r T P S E 5 T T E E S 2 R E I R S E o 1 1 4 S I 2 S S 3 E R S 1-3 S X S S S S 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4 Balloon Campaigns (CREAM VI, BLAST, Antarctica D/J SPB Test) D/J D/J D/J (No astrophysics flights) Sweden M/J Ft. Sumner (spr) A/M A/M Palestine (TGF, GRAPE) J/J J/J J/J Ft. Sumner (fall) A/S A/S A/S Australia M/A (HERO) M/A M/A Opportunities spring Future AOs will depend upon the Agency SOFIA Instr response to the Astro2010 Decadal Survey AO Last Updated: February 7, 2011 8 SOFIA • Completed Short Science #1 Flight Series with FORCAST instrument. (see below) • Released Draft AO for Second Generation Instruments on Dec. 15. • Completed two nights of on-aircraft testing with GREAT simulator on Dec. 16. GREAT flights planned to start in early April 2011. • German State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Jochen Homann, visited SOFIA Science Project at ARC on Dec. 17. ORION visible light (HST) near-infrared (ESO) mid-infrared (SOFIA) 9 Balloon Program – Antarctic Campaign 111,600 • CREAM VI (Cosmic Ray Energetics & Mass) - investigating 111,500 high-energy cosmic-ray particles that originated from distant supernovae explosions in the Milky Way that reach 111,400 Earth. (Seo - Univ. of MD) 111,300 – Launched 12-20-2010. – Unplanned flight termination after 5 days 16 hrs. 111,200 Payload recovered, with instrument intact. 111,100 1/19/2011 1/20/2011 1/21/2011 – Minimum science requirements were achieved. Altitude of Superpressure Balloon in Feet – Flight termination cause unknown pending outcome of an Anomaly Review Board. • BLAST (Balloon Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope) - investigating how magnetic fields impede star formation in our galaxy. (Devlin - UPenn) – Launched 12-26-2010. – Flew nine days with nominal science operation. – Payload recovery is complete. • 14 MCF Superpressure Balloon – development flight – Launched 1-9-2011. – Flew ~22 days with nominal operation – Payload completely recovered. 14 MCF Superpressure Balloon 10 JWST Status Flight MIRI • Program Reorganized at HQ and GSFC – HQ office reports directly to SMD AA and NASA AA NIRCam ETU – GSFC project reports to Center Director • Re-planning program for new Flight FGS/TF launch date, process to complete in late Spring/Early Summer 2011 • CY2011 major year for hardware Flight NIRSpec delivery – Primary segments complete late summer – NIRSpec, MIRI delivered Summer – FGS delivered Fall – NIRCam, late 2011 Completed Mirror Segments WFIRST Status • The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Members of the Science Definition is a NASA observatory designed to address essential Team (SDT): questions in both exoplanet and dark energy research J. Green, CU/CASA, Chair and to perform other large-area IR surveys of the sky. P. Schechter, MIT, Chair • Astro2010‟s highest priority large space mission. • Update: R. Bean, Cornell University C. Baltay, Yale – Call for Science Definition Team (SDT) received C. Bennett, JHU 82 nominations. D. Bennett, Univ. of Notre Dame – SDT members selected R. Brown, STScI C. Conselice, Univ. of Nottingham • Acceptance letters sent on Dec 16, 2010 M. Donahue, Michigan State University – SDT kickoff telecon in Jan 3, 2011 S. Gaudi, Ohio State University – WFIRST science booths at the Seattle AAS T. Lauer, NOAO B. Nichol, Univ. of Porthsmouth – First SDT face-to-face meeting Feb 3-4 at GSFC S. Perlmutter. Univ. of Berkeley/LBLN • Next Steps: B. Rauscher, GSFC – Second in-person meeting March 10-11 at JPL J. Rhodes, JPL T. Roellig, Ames – Delivery to NASA of interim report Summer 2011 D. Stern, JPL T. Sumi, Nagoya University A. Tanner, Georgia State University Y. Wang, Univ. of Oklahoma E. Wright, UCLA 12 Budget Update 13 Science Mission Directorate Summary Budget Authority ($M) FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2011 Actual CR Auth Act FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY13-FY16 estimates are Science 4,497.6 4,469.0 5,005.6 5,016.8 5,016.8 5,016.8 5,016.8 5,016.8 notional Earth Science 1,439.3 1,801.8 1,653.0 1,679.2 1,665.3 1,691.4 1,727.3 Earth Science Research 375.8 409.6 419.0 427.3 436.7 444.6 Earth Systematic Missions 705.2 816.5 838.7 761.6 763.2 810.7 Earth System Science Pathfinder 128.4 187.8 180.6 229.5 238.4 214.3 Earth Science Multi-Mission Operations 149.0 159.9 158.8 159.4 162.9 166.6 Earth Science Technology 45.6 46.1 47.9 51.9 53.6 54.2 Applied Sciences 35.3 33.1 34.3 35.5 36.7 36.9 Planetary Science 1,364.4 1,485.7 1,488.9 1,365.7 1,326.4 1,271.0 1,188.9 Planetary Science Research 161.6 183.9 196.0 208.6 208.4 210.5 Lunar Quest Program 94.5 114.5 81.2 48.9 28.1 19.5 Discovery 184.5 175.6 205.1 245.7 265.5 242.8 New Frontiers 279.6 176.9 265.8 245.5 291.1 296.3 Mars Exploration 438.2 594.4 433.1 408.7 309.0 245.9 Outer Planets 100.6 120.8 80.5 82.2 84.1 88.5 Technology 105.5 122.9 104.1 86.6 84.9 85.4 Astrophysics 647.3 1,076.3 637.7 708.3 721.0 713.5 741.9 Astrophysics Research 149.1 161.6 200.1 211.8 229.3 238.6 Cosmic Origins 225.3 219.7 219.4 209.9 195.2 184.5 Physics of the Cosmos 116.0 100.3 112.4 111.9 98.1 96.8 Exoplanet Exploration 43.4 48.2 65.5 63.6 62.1 69.8 Astrophysics Explorer 113.5 107.8 110.9 123.7 128.7 152.0 James Webb Space Telescope 438.7 354.6 359.3 365.3 371.6 371.6 Heliophysics 608.0 641.9 577.9 591.0 612.4 627.2 628.6 Heliophysics Research 171.8 144.5 147.5 149.3 149.5 150.8 Living with a Star 221.9 204.7 202.2 200.9 336.3 354.9 Solar Terrestrial Probes 148.0 163.5 170.4 171.9 50.2 38.0 Heliophysics Explorer Program 65.1 65.2 70.8 90.2 91.1 84.9 New Millennium 1.2 SCMD Civil Service Labor and Expenses 304.7 313.2 326.5 342.2 358.6 Astrophysics Program Budget Strategy • Respond to decadal survey recommendations with augmentations to the Explorer program, Balloon program, Astrophysics research program, and technology development, but defer initiating the next large mission beyond JWST • Support missions in prime operations (Herschel, Planck, Fermi, Kepler, and HST) • Complete integration of NuSTAR for a Feb 2012 launch • SOFIA will continue to ramp up science flight hours to achieve full operating capability (FOC) by 2014 and will develop the second generation of instruments • Continue development/implementation of Astro-H for a Feb 2014 launch • Continue formulation and development of GEMS for an Apr 2014 launch • Use Senior Review recommendations to prioritize funding for missions in extended operations Innovate, Educate, Build “To reach new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind.” 15 What’s Changed and What’s the Same What’s changed: • JWST project was moved to its own Theme within the Science Mission Directorate • The Explorer program is being split into two pieces such that Astrophysics and Heliophysics will manage their own Explorers resources beginning in 2012 A Future Astrophysics Explorer missions budget was created in response to the Decadal Survey recommendation to increase the flight rate of astrophysics missions and missions of opportunity.
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