The FLUID Rocket Payload: Far- and Lyman-Ultraviolet Imaging of High-Redshift Galaxy Analogs

We propose a five-year suborbital research program to develop and flight-qualify ultraviolet (UV) hardware required to realize NASA's ambitious space mission objectives for the next two decades. We will utilize these advancements to study the distribution and influence of the most massive stars in local galaxies, addressing key ``Cosmic Ecosystems" science questions from the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. Our recent projects successfully demonstrated broadband UV-to-IR coatings and large format photon-counting detectors in a pathfinder flight instrument; we propose to extend this work to critical-path technology advancement for UV imaging systems with a new sounding rocket payload, the Far- and Lyman-Ultraviolet Imaging Demonstrator (FLUID). FLUID will raise the technology readiness level (TRL) of band-selecting UV coatings and solar-blind, UV detector technology needed for next-generation UV facilities such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). We carry out this development in the framework of a university-led program where early-career training is paramount. Under a predecessor award, we developed the band-selecting filters and telescope components for two of the four channels of FLUID: the first arcsecond-level resolution, wide-field, multi-band imaging system operating across the Far UV (FUV; 1200 - 2000 A) and Lyman UV (LUV; 900 - 1200 A) bands while simultaneously rejecting Lyman alpha (Lya; 1216 A) airglow. We have completed alignment of one of the channels, with a second channel currently underway. We propose to complete the fabrication, calibration, and launch of the FLUID payload to conclude the development of high-efficiency band-selecting dielectric coatings and provide a ``shovel ready'' TRL 6 UV band selection process for HWO. FLUID incorporates several advanced optical technologies highlighted as major hardware needs for NASA's next large UV/optical/near-IR observatory by the 2022 Astrophysics Biennial Technology Report, including: 1) ``High-Throughput Bandpass Selection for UV'' (Tier 1), 2) ``Far-UV Imaging Bandpass Filter'' (Tier 3), and 3) ``Large-Format, Low-Darkrate, High-Efficiency, Photon-Counting, Solar-blind, Far- and Near-UV Detectors'' (Tier 1). FLUID's 1600 A and 1800 A channels will provide flight tests of both solar-blind silicon-based detectors and sealed tube, bi-alkali photocathode microchannel plate detectors; devices that were specified for LUVOIR/HabEx. In the proposed work, we will: 1) address a Decadal Survey priority to optimize a filter set that meets the science requirements identified by the LUVOIR's STDT's science program, 2) characterize the transmission and environmental stability of these filters in the laboratory, 3) incorporate two high-sensitivity UV detectors into the 1600 A and 1800 A FLUID modules, and 4) conduct three launches of FLUID to place novel constraints on how massive stars drive environmental feedback processes across cosmic time. FLUID will fly in Years 3, 4, and 5 to characterize the most massive stars in nearby star-forming galaxies, understand the chemical and dynamical feedback into their galactic environments (a key unresolved question in the study of galaxy evolution), and simultaneously obtain the first morphological classification of nearby galaxies in the 900 - 1200 A bandpass. FLUID's 4-channel design is optimized to break the degeneracy between stellar population age and dust reddening. The filter designs are both tunable in wavelength and deposited at the projected size required for HWO. This program will prepare UV band-selecting filters for direct adoption by HWO without significant additional scaling or facilities investment. We will additionally continue our history of using the sounding rocket platform as a means of training future PI's and instrument scientists, from graduate students to early-career researchers. This includes PI Nicholas Kruczek's application for the Roman Technology Fellowship as a part of this proposal.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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