#decadal

Astronomers To NASA: Please, Build This Telescope!

"When the National Academies release their recommendations in just a few weeks, the great hope of astronomers is that at least three of these missions will be chosen to move forward, with LUVOIR, the most powerful and ambitious space-based observatory ever proposed, as the top choice. If we want definitive answers to the biggest questions of all, it takes a big effort and a substantial investment. Considering that the reward is learning that “there’s life on that planet, orbiting another star, right over there,” it’s clear that LUVOIR is the one telescope we must all join together to build."

Seriously, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of potentially habitable Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars. Is there life on them? If we choose to build this next-generation observatory, LUVOIR, we'll know. We won't guess, or speculate, but instead we'll actually know.

One Of These Four Missions Will Be Selected As NASA's Next Flagship For Astrophysics

“Choosing which of these missions to build and fly will, in many ways, inform our plans for the next 30 years (or more) of astronomy. NASA is the pre-eminent space agency in the world. This is where science, research, development, discovery, and innovation all come together. The spinoff technologies alone justify the investment, but that's not why we do it. We are here to discover the Universe. We are here to learn all that we can about the cosmos and our place within it. We are here to find out what the Universe looks like and how it came to be the way it is today.

People will always argue over budgets — the penny-pinchers are always happy to propose something that's faster, cheaper, and worse — but the reality is this: the budget for NASA Astrophysics as a whole is just $1.35 billion per year: less than 0.1% of the federal discretionary budget and less than 0.03% of the total federal budget. And still, for that tiny amount, NASA has steadily built a flagship program that's the envy of the free world.”

Every 10 years, NASA performs a decadal survey, where it outlines its highest mission priorities for the next 10 years. The 2020 decadal is happening imminently, and once the recommendations are submitted to the National Resource Council at the National Academies of Science, the four flagship finalists will be ranked. This will determine NASA astrophysics’ direction for the 2030s.