NGST Study Scientist NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The infrared band, largely unobservable from the ground, is one of the outstanding frontiers of space astronomy. Rapid progress in detector technology, lightweight cold mirrors, deep space missions, and new concepts in instrumentation continue to open this frontier. Planned missions include the SIRTF, SOFIA, NGST, FIRST, Planck, and ASTRO-F. Proposed missions include the Japanese H2L2 mission, several forms of imaging interferometers to search for planets and resolve detailed structures, and a far IR interferometer called SPECS. I will review the scientific objectives and technical progress that enable each of these missions, and discuss the ultimate limits that might be achieved. The prospect of achieving HST-like sensitivity and angular resolution over a wide range of infrared wavelengths is real and scientifically exciting. The technical innovation required is difficult but not impossible. Continuing revolutions in manufacturing and engineering processes can enable scientific breakthroughs of immense importance.