“Large” is almost a misnomer for these concepts “transformational” might be a more appropriate choice of words. “Each of these four studies at this point in time has done so much more than any large mission concept prior to a decadal survey in history,” says LUVOIR team member John O’Meara (W. With these studies, NASA hopes to stave off another JWST-like situation. That’s why in 2016 NASA started funding detailed studies - including everything from costing models to work breakdown structures - for four “large mission” concepts: HabEx, LUVOIR, Lynx, and the Origins Space Telescope (listed in alphabetical order). While they will likely still make it to space, James Webb in particular has extracted a political cost with numerous delays and budget overruns. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is up next, having been prioritized in 2000, then the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope (formerly known as Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, or WFIRST), which received first place in the 2010 survey. That list includes the Hubble Space Telescope, which received priority in the 1972 report and launched in 1990 the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which received priority in 1982 and launched in 1999 and the Spitzer Space Telescope, which received priority in 1991 and launched in 2003. So far at least, any space mission that received highest priority in a given decadal eventually made it to the launch pad. The astronomers will set down a vision of the future in a report called the decadal survey.ĭecadal surveys have been setting the tone for space-based astronomy for the past 50 years. Selected by the National Academy of Sciences, this group is considering four flagship space telescope missions - any one of which could change the face of astronomy - as well as 10 smaller probe missions. In the next few weeks, a high-powered group of astronomers spanning a range of disciplines will publish guidelines that will set the priorities for the next decade of astronomy. Astronomers are proposing four flagship mission concepts: HabEx, LUVOIR, Lynx, and Origins
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