Related papers: SOFIA Astronomy and Technology in the 21st Century

Access to microarcsecond astrometry is now routine in the radio, infrared, and optical domains. In particular the publication of the second data release from the Gaia mission made it possible for every astronomer to work with easily…

The measurement of the positions, distances, motions and luminosities of stars represents the foundations of modern astronomical knowledge. Launched at the end of the eighties, the ESA Hipparcos satellite was the first space mission…

This paper reports on the current status of the World Space Observatory WSO-UV, a space mission for UV astronomy, planned for launch at the beginning of next decade. It is based on a 1.7 m telescope, with focal plane instruments including…

We present the most recent technical improvements on SpIOMM, an Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (IFTS) attached to the 1.6 telescope of the Mont M\'egantic Observatory. The recent development of SpIOMM demonstrates that the concept…

This paper presents the concept of a community-accessible stratospheric balloon-based observatory that is currently under preparation by a consortium of European research institutes and industry. The planned European Stratospheric Balloon…

Although far-IR -- mm-wave astronomy has now been developing for several decades, access to this portion of the spectrum remains difficult and limited. Relative to their optical-wavelength counterparts, the submillimeter observatories are…

For the last 25 years, the 21 cm line has been used productively to investigate the large-scale structure of the Universe, its peculiar velocity field and the measurement of cosmic parameters. In February 2005 a blind HI survey that will…

One of the most promising space missions of ESA is the astrometric satellite Gaia, which will provide very precise astrometry and multicolour photometry, for all 1.3 billion objects to V~20, and radial velocities with accuracies of a few…

Taipan is a multi-object spectroscopic galaxy survey starting in 2017 that will cover 2pi steradians over the southern sky, and obtain optical spectra for about two million galaxies out to z<0.4. Taipan will use the newly-refurbished 1.2m…

The sensitivity and astrometry upgrade ASTRA of the Keck Interferometer is introduced. After a brief overview of the underlying interferometric principles, the technology and concepts of the upgrade are presented. The interferometric…

Long-baseline interferometry at optical and near-infrared wavelengths is an emerging technology which is quickly becoming a useful tool to investigate stellar atmospheres and to compare observations with models. Stellar atmosphere models…

The sodium laser guide star adaptive optics system ALFA has been constructed at the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope. Following the first detection of the laser beacon on the wavefront sensor in 1997 the system is now being optimized for best…

The World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) will provide access to the UV range during the next decade. The instrumentation on board will allow to carry out high resolution imaging, high sensitivity imaging, high resolution (R~55000)…

The World Space Observatory Project is a new space mission concept, grown out the needs of the Astronomical community to have access to the part of the electromagnetic spectrum where all known physics can be studied on all possible time…

We present the upGREAT THz heterodyne arrays for far-infrared astronomy. The Low Frequency Array (LFA) is designed to cover the 1.9-2.5 THz range using 2x7-pixel waveguide-based HEB mixer arrays in a dual polarization configuration. The…

The Herschel Satellite and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) are two very large sub-mm and far infrared (FIR) astronomy projects that are expected to come into operation in this decade. This report contains descriptions of these…

We show the feasibility of spectroscopic cosmological surveys with the SAFARI instrument onboard of SPICA. The work is done through simulations that make use of both empirical methods, i.e. the use of observed luminosity functions and…

A new mission about twenty years after Gaia with similar astrometric performance would be important for all branches of astronomy. The two missions together would, e.g., give much more accurate motions of the common objects due to the large…

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…

The Wide-Field InfraRed Space Telescope (WFIRST) will be capable of delivering precise astrometry for faint sources over the enormous field of view of its main camera, the Wide-Field Imager (WFI). This unprecedented combination will be…