Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems (OASIS): following the water trail from the interstellar medium to oceans
Year: 2021
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems (OASIS) is a space-based, MIDEX-class mission concept that employs a 17-meter diameter inflatable aperture with cryogenic heterodyne receivers, enabling high sensitivity and high spectral resolution (resolving power ≥106) observations at terahertz frequencies. OASIS science is targeting submillimeter and far-infrared transitions of H2O and its isotopologues, as well as deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD) and other molecular species from 660 to 80 μm, which are inaccessible to ground-based telescopes due to the opacity of Earth’s atmosphere. OASIS will have <20x the collecting area and ~5x the angular resolution of Herschel, and it complements the shorter wavelength capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope. With its large collecting area and suite of terahertz heterodyne receivers, OASIS will have the sensitivity to follow the water trail from galaxies to oceans, as well as directly measure gas mass in a wide variety of astrophysical objects from observations of the ground-state HD line. OASIS will operate in a Sun-Earth L1 halo orbit that enables observations of large numbers of galaxies, protoplanetary systems, and solar system objects during the course of its 1-year baseline mission. OASIS embraces an overarching science theme of “following water from galaxies, through protostellar systems, to oceans.” This theme resonates with the NASA Astrophysics Roadmap and the 2010 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, and it is also highly complementary to the proposed Origins Space Telescope’s objectives.
DOI: 10.1117/12.2594847
Authors: Christopher K. Walker, Gordon Chin, Susanne Aalto, Carrie M. Anderson, Jonathan W. Arenberg, Cara Battersby, Edwin Bergin, Jenny Bergner, Nicolas Biver, Gordon L. Bjorakerb, John Carr, Thibault Cavalié, Elvire De Beck, Michael A. DiSanti, Paul Hartogh, Leslie K. Hunt, Dae Wook Kim, Yuzuru Takashima, Craig Kulesa, David Leisawitz, Joan Najita, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Kamber Schwarz, Yancy Shirly, Antony Stark, Xander Tielens, Serena Viti, David Wilner, Edward Wollack, Erick Young
Institutions: University of Arizona, Goddard Space Flight Center, Chalmers University of Technology, Northrop Grumman (United States), University of Connecticut, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique, Leiden University, University of Maryland, College Park
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W3191593850