Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Educational Assets
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

NASA’s Flying Observatory Expanding New Frontiers In The Solar System And Beyond

By NASA | November 16, 2016

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 centers 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 center 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.

SOFIA is a is a joint program between NASA and the German Aerospace Center and is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope that uses eight instruments to study the universe at infrared wavelengths that cannot be detected from ground-based observatories. Cycle 5 provides 455 research hours to U.S. programs and 80 hours to German programs.

“Four very highly rated programs were selected to investigate the galactic center region using the upGREAT high-resolution far-infrared spectrometer,” said Harold Yorke SOFIA Science Mission Director of the Universities Space Research Association.

“Three of those programs are aimed at understanding the Central Molecular Zone, a vast, turbulent region encircling the Milky Way’s nucleus that contains a large fraction of the galaxy’s dense molecular clouds and star forming regions, Yorke explained. “The fourth program is focused on material surrounding, and perhaps feeding into, the supermassive black hole at the very heart of our galaxy.”

To study celestial objects that are best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, planning is underway for an eight-week deployment to Christchurch, New Zealand, from late June to late August 2017, employing three instruments: the spectrometer known as the upgraded German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies, or upGREAT, The Faint Object infraRed Camera for the SOFIA Telescope, or FORCAST, a combined mid-infrared camera and spectrometer, and the Far Infrared Field-Imaging Line Spectrometer, or FIFI-LS, a far-infrared imaging spectrometer.

Closer to home, the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph, or EXES, a mid-infrared spectrometer, will take advantage of that instrument’s great sensitivity and high spectral resolution to make an ambitious search for previously unobserved molecules in the Orion star forming region, looking for rare molecular species like acetylene, ethylene, and ethane. These observations will provide information about the production of organic compounds and water in a region where stars and planets are currently forming.

SOFIA’s High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus, known as HAWC+, a far-infrared polarimeter camera, now being commissioned, is slated for a joint project with the most powerful telescope on Earth, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ALMA, to understand how the galaxy’s magnetic fields resist the collapse of gas clouds that form stars thereby affecting the star formation process.

A challenging planetary science investigation will use SOFIA to observe Triton when it passes in front of a bright background star in October 2017. This would require a mini-deployment to the U.S. East Coast where the shadow of Triton will briefly be cast, allowing a look at that moon’s thin atmosphere.

“This project is quite comparable to SOFIA’s study of Pluto and its atmosphere during a stellar occultation observed from near New Zealand in 2015, and in fact was proposed by the same investigator team,” Yorke said. “This type of research demonstrates the virtues of a mobile observatory that can go wherever on Earth is required to view transient celestial phenomena.”

SOFIA’s ability to change instruments and adapt new technologies enables the rapid development and deployment of new sensors. To that end, NASA plans to solicit proposals for SOFIA’s next generation instrumentation in 2017.

SOFIA 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 along with 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 based at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Hangar 703, in Palmdale, California.

You Might Also Like


Filed Under: Aerospace + defense

 

LEARNING CENTER

Design World Learning Center
“dw
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for Design Engineering Professionals.
Motor University

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Widening the scope for machine tool designers with FORTiS™ enclosed encoder
  • Sustainability, Innovation and Safety, Central to Our Approach
  • Why off-highway is the sweet spot for AC electrification technology
  • Looking to 2025: Past Success Guides Future Achievements
  • North American Companies Seek Stronger Ties with Italian OEMs
  • Adapt and Evolve
View More >>
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Control Engineering
  • Consulting-Specifying Engineer
  • Plant Engineering
  • Engineering White Papers
  • Leap Awards

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • ELECTRONICS • ELECTRICAL
    • Fastening • joining
    • FLUID POWER
    • LINEAR MOTION
    • MOTION CONTROL
    • SENSORS
    • TEST & MEASUREMENT
    • Factory automation
    • Warehouse automation
    • DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
  • Learn
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Learning center
    • eBooks • Tech Tips
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars • general engineering
    • Webinars • Automated warehousing
    • Voices
  • LEAP Awards
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guides
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Educational Assets
    • Engineering diversity
    • Trends
  • Supplier Listings
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. We share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners who may combine it with other information you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use this website.