Related papers: Airships: A New Horizon for Science
Liquid mirror telescopes are of interest to Astronomy because of their very low capital and operating costs. Low cost has a potentially revolutionary impact since it allows one to dedicate a large telescope to a narrowly focused project…
The number of small satellites has grown dramatically in the past decade from tens of satellites per year in the mid-2010s to a projection of tens of thousands in orbit by the mid-2020s. This presents both problems and opportunities for…
The commercial SmallSat industry is booming and has developed numerous low-cost, capable satellite buses. SmallSats can be used as vehicles for technology development or to host science missions. Missions hosted on SmallSats can answer…
Machine Learning for aviation weather is a growing area of research for providing low-cost alternatives for traditional, expensive weather sensors; however, in the area of atmospheric visibility estimation, publicly available datasets,…
We outline a flagship-class mission concept focused on studying Titan as a global system, with particular emphasis on the polar regions. Investigating Titan from the unique standpoint of a polar orbit would enable comprehensive global maps…
This Horizon Study describes a next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave observatory: Cosmic Explorer. With ten times the sensitivity of Advanced LIGO, Cosmic Explorer will push gravitational-wave astronomy towards the edge of the…
We show that, in addition to specific science goals, there is a strong case for conducting an all-sky (i.e. the visible 3-pi steradians) SKA continuum survey which does not fit neatly into conventional science cases. History shows that the…
The Keck science community is entering an era of unprecedented change. Powerful new instrument like ZTF, JWST, LSST, and the ELTs will catalyze this change, and we must be ready to take full advantage to maintain our position of scientific…
Over the next few years the new radio telescopes, such as the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will greatly enhance our knowledge of the active history of the Universe. Large-area surveys with these new telescopes will no longer be dominated by…
The New Horizons spacecraft will achieve a wide range of measurement objectives at the Pluto system, including color and panchromatic maps, 1.25-2.50 micron spectral images for studying surface compositions, and measurements of Pluto's…
PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5 m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high…
Antarctica provides a unique environment for astronomy. The cold, dry and stable air found above the high plateau, as well as the pure ice below, offers new opportunities across the photon & particle spectrum. The summits of the plateau…
Since the early 1990s with the arrival of a variety of new technologies, the capacity for authentic astronomical research at the high school level has skyrocketed. This potential, however, has not realized the bright-eyed hopes and dreams…
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will transform our knowledge of the outer planets and their satellite systems; however the visibility of unique targets of opportunity with high scientific value will be reduced for northern objects.…
Observatories are complex scientific and technical institutions serving diverse users and purposes. Their telescopes, instruments, software, and human resources engage in interwoven workflows over a broad range of timescales. These…
The upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will become the largest astronomical observation facility, and is expected to introduce revolutionary changes in major fields of natural sciences. These revolutionary changes help us…
The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is a set of mission concepts for the next generation UV-Optical-Near Infrared space telescope with an aperture size of 8 to 16 meters. ATLAST, using an internal coronagraph or…
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has two scientific objectives of cosmological focus: to probe the expansion rate of the universe, and to understand stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds and their implications for early…
Radio wavelength observations of solar system bodies reveal unique information about them, as they probe to regions inaccessible by nearly all other remote sensing techniques and wavelengths. As such, the SKA will be an important telescope…
Stratospheric balloons offer cost-effective access to space and grant the opportunity for fast scientific innovation cycles and higher-risk explorations. In addition to science pathfinders, they serve as platforms for technology…