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SOFIA eNewsletter for Scientists

v18 September 25, 2007

Below is the 18th SOFIA Electronic Newsletter to the astronomical community.You'll find related images and video linked below. Previous newsletter editions are here. Please email comments and/or inquiries to sofia@sofia.usra.edu.

Regards and best wishes,

Click here to view newsletter images

A new article (Becklin, Tielens, Gehrz & Callis 2008) containing general information for astronomers about SOFIA is available here.

SOFIA AIRCRAFT CHRISTENED BY LINDBERGH

A re-dedication and "debut" ceremony was held at Dryden on June 27, at which NASA and DLR (the German Aerospace Center) personnel and their contractors celebrated the delivery of the aircraft. Among the speakers was Erik Lindbergh, whose grandmother Anne Morrow Lindbergh christened the plane "Clipper Lindbergh" when it was delivered to Pan American Airlines in 1977.  

Following its first functional test flight on April 26 (reported in vol. 17 of this newsletter), SOFIA flew two more flights at L-3 Communications Integrated Systems in Waco Texas, and then made its "ferry" flight to NASA-Dryden on May 31.  

Dryden and L-3 personnel have inspected the plane to prepare it for a series of closed-door flight tests beginning in late September, extending approximately until the end of 2007. The telescope cavity door will then be removed for integration of the door control hardware and software with the telescope and aircraft systems. The primary mirror will be removed for coating at NASA-Ames during spring 2008. The crucial open-door test flights are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2008.

SCIENCE FLIGHT OPERATIONS TO BEGIN IN 2009

The current schedule shows limited science-flight operations with community participation beginning in early- to mid-2009. The period designated "Early Science" will involve the FORCAST mid-IR camera and the GREAT sub-mm spectrometer, with the FLITECAM near-IR camera and the FIFI-LS far-IR spectrometer as backups. SOFIA Early Science will be conducted in two stages: first, a few weeks of "Short Science" during which initial observations of a small number of selected targets will be made by the designated instrument teams, SOFIA staff scientists, and a few members of the general astronomical community selected by a special peer review. That period will be followed by a period labeled "Basic Science", during which 1-2 key projects extending over about 15 flights will be conducted.These key projects will be selected from general community proposals for collaboration with the designated instrument teams.

See our website for descriptions Of SOFIA's nine first-generation science instruments.

A SOFIA Community Task Force (SCTF) has been formed, chaired by Bob Gehrz (U. Minnesota), to expand the awareness of SOFIA's potential for science and technology development. Two key activities of the SCTF are discussed directly below.

"SOFIA's 2020 VISION WORKSHOP I", DECEMBER 2007, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

A workshop on "SOFIA's 2020 Vision" will be held at Caltech on December 6-8. The workshop will focus on SOFIA's science and technology in the next two decades. The Scientific Organizing Committee is co-chaired by Jonas Zmuidzinas of Caltech and Karl Menten of MPIfR. The chair of the Local Organizing Committee is Alexandre Karpov of Caltech. The output of the workshop will be a white paper that will show the long-range scientific potential of SOFIA. We encourage anyone interested in SOFIA to attend.

For further information please see the conference web site: http://www.sofia-vision.caltech.edu

The deadline for abstract submission, registration for the Saturday December 8 visit to SOFIA at NASA-Dryden, and requests for travel grants is September 30.

SOFIA EARLY SCIENCE OPPORTUNITIES, AAS WORKSHOP I, JANUARY 2008, AUSTIN, TX

This is the first of a series of workshops regarding early science opportunities with SOFIA. It will be held during the 211th Meeting of the AAS in Austin, TX on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 from 1 to 5 PM.

There will be updates on the state of the SOFIA Project including its complement of nine instruments (3 cameras, 5 spectrographs, and a high-speed photometer), and a charge to working groups that will meet in splinter sessions to consider the early SOFIA general observer (GO) science plan, then to discuss, revise, and update SOFIA's scientific cases. This will in turn provide input to a SOFIA Science Opportunities document to be drafted after Workshop I and reviewed and revised at the "SOFIA Community Task Force AAS Workshop II" to be held during the 212th AAS Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri in June, 2008.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME. This is your chance to help define the ways that SOFIA will best serve the science community. We specifically encourage attendance by astronomers who have never had airborne astronomy experience, theoreticians, and the large new community of astronomers doing infrared astronomy with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, please see this web page or contact Robert D. Gehrz, SCTF lead, Department of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, 116 Church St., SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, phone: (612) 624-7806, e-mail: gehrz@astro.umn.edu.

PERSONNEL

NASA Headquarters has announced that Paul Hertz will become the new SOFIA Program Scientist, replacing Hashima Hasan who has served in that capacity for almost 3 years. Xander Tielens has stepped down as NASA SOFIA Project Scientist at NASA-Ames but remains active in SOFIA science planning. Tom Roellig is currently acting as NASA SOFIA Project Scientist. The announcement for the position of permanent SOFIA Project Scientist has now closed and applications are being evaluated.

B.-G. Andersson, formerly of the FUSE Support Group, has accepted a position with USRA as the SOFIA Science Operations Manager starting October 1. Murad Hamidouche has accepted a position with USRA as a SOFIA post-doctoral scientist.

SCIENCE PROGRAM INFORMATION

Please contact Dana Backman (dbackman@sofia.usra.edu) if your institution would like a scientific colloquium -- including information on SOFIA's capabilities and future observing opportunities -- by a member of SOFIA's scientific staff.

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Page Last Updated: September 24, 2007