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Completed TRL 2 (started at 1, targeting 2)
This IRAD will build on the foundation set by the “Gravitational Wave Imager” study in the 2021 Goddard Reaching Beyond! initiative. The aim of that initiative was to address “seemingly impossible” science objectives, in this case making astronomical images using Gravitational Wave (GW) measurements. This IRAD study will consolidate and complete much of the work started during the intensive Reaching Beyond study and begin the process of communicating our ideas to stakeholders in the center, agency, and scientific communities.
Under the support of this IRAD, our team will work to produce a consolidated summary of the landscape of potential future GW Imager missions. Anticipated products include a prototype science traceability matrix that associates science goals with imaging metrics, a software tool to estimate the astrometric localization performance of a wide variety of potential mission/instrument configurations, and a set of notional mission concepts that span the principal axes of the architectural trade space.
Additionally, our team will begin the critical process of engagement with stakeholders through development of one or more scientific publications and the organization of a GW Imager Symposium in Summer 2022.
The long-term goal of this IRAD is to lay the foundation for future NASA-led GW missions with imaging capabilities as a core part of their science case. Depending on the scope of the particular mission, this could be a flagship-level mission for the 2040s or an even more ambitious mission for future generations. In the near-term, this IRAD study will serve as a bridge between the rapid six-week Goddard Reaching Beyond study of Summer 2021 and competitive research grants from NASA (e.g. ATP, APRA, etc.) with proposal deadlines in mid-to-late 2022. These proposals would help refine key elements of the GW Imager concept while simultaneously developing GSFC’s capabilities as a leadership center for such missions.
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