UV Astronomical Facilities for the 21st Century
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Since the first dedicated space astronomy satellites in the late 1960s and early 1970s provided access to the ultraviolet wavelengths blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere, this wavelength range has proved to be of great importance to astrophysics. Since the launch of IUE in 1978, astronomers have had continuous spectroscopic access, now provided by the Hubble Space Telescope. However, Hubble is now 35 years old and its mission may end in the relatively near future. This prospect has exercised space scientists for some time, resulting in a variety of plans to extend UV astronomy into the future. Indeed, there are now many possible future missions in various stages of development and with different launch prospects. The aim of this paper is to provide a summary of known potential future UV astronomy missions, describe their expected capabilities and indicate their stage of development. While we have tried to be comprehensive, we anticipate that this will not be a complete list, as new ideas are always being considered and are not always visible to the community, particularly in their early stages.
Source: Space Science Reviews
Institutions: University of Leicester, The University of Western Australia, Queen Mary University of London, University of Colorado Boulder, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Rikkyo University, University of Hong Kong, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Astronomy, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Masaryk University
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,290
OpenAlex ID: W7225826364