Gordon Stacey
Cornell University
The Far-Infrared Spectroscopy Space Telescope (FIRSST)
FIRSST is 1.8 meter cooled space telescope proposed to the NASA Probe mission call. FIRSST has three primary science drivers: 1) to determine how planets form in protoplanetary disks and explain the diversity of planets; 2) to locate the source of water in planet- forming disks and explain how water accumulates into oceans; and 3) to determine the relationship between the intergalactic medium and the growth of galaxies. These objectives will be achieved through far-infrared spectroscopy from 35 um to 600 um with both direct-detection and heterodyne receivers. I plan to overview the science and instrumentation with particular emphasis on the direct detection spectrometer that consists of a low resolving- power (RP~100), broad-band (35 um to 260 um) and multi-beam mapping module, and a high resolving power (RP ~ 10^5) module that is based on a Virtual Imaging Phase Array, a spectrally multiplexing resonant spectrometer. The VIPA technology is recently demonstrated in the far-infrared in our lab at Cornell.
