Ultraviolet Imaging and Spectroscopic Instrumentation for Future NASA Astrophysics Missions

We propose a five-year suborbital research program to develop and flight-qualify the instrument designs and components required to realize NASA's ambitious space instrumentation objectives of the next decade. This proposed work builds on previous University of Colorado efforts to support technological readiness for a future, highly multiplexed ultraviolet (UV) instrument with imaging and spectroscopic capabilities, e.g., the LUVOIR/LUMOS instrument or other future UV/optical mission. Our existing program successfully fabricated and will soon flight test a medium resolution imaging spectrograph for the 100 – 160 nm bandpass that demonstrates LUMOS technologies and spectrograph design. We propose to advance these efforts with a new multi-band ultraviolet imaging system that demonstrates the necessary component-level technology specified for the LUMOS far-UV Imager. We perform this work in the framework of a university-led program where undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training is paramount. In the proposed effort, we will optimize the ultraviolet efficiency of our high-throughput imaging spectrograph (SISTINE) by characterizing and flight-testing aluminum mirror coatings employing protected fluoride overcoats (e.g., hot Al/eLiF + MgF2 or AlF3 capping layers). SISTINE is the first sub-arcsecond imaging, medium spectral resolution (R = 10,000), spectrograph ever flown with spectral coverage over the entire 100 – 160 nm bandpass. It is also the design prototype for the multi-object spectroscopy channel of the LUVOIR/LUMOS instrument. We will fly this upgraded SISTINE instrument in Years 1 and 2 to measure the ultraviolet radiation environment in the habitable zones around nearby stars. In parallel with the proposed science flights of SISTINE, we will design, fabricate, and calibrate a new FUV imaging payload (FLUID) that will enable the development, characterization, and flight testing of prototype narrow- and medium-band interference filters for the LUVOIR/LUMOS imaging channel. We will work with our collaborating institutions to 1) optimize a filter set that meets the science requirements identified by the LUVOIR STDT's community science program, 2) calibrate these in the laboratory, and 3) integrate them into the first simultaneous, multi-band imaging system operating from 100 – 180 nm. FLUID will fly in Years 4 and 5 to investigate massive star-formation in nearby galaxies and obtain the first morphological classification of nearby galaxies in the 100 – 120 nm bandpass. These observations will provide z ~ 0 references for JWST images of high-redshift galaxies and perform an essential calibration of the LUMOS filters while advancing their technology readiness from TRL 4 to TRL 6. SISTINE and FLUID incorporate several advanced optical technologies highlighted as major hardware drivers for NASA's next large UV/optical/near-IR observatory by the 2017 Cosmic Origins Technology Report, including 1) high-reflectivity far-UV-to-near-IR mirror coatings, 2) large-format, photon-counting UV detectors, and 3) ultraviolet band-shaping filters. Both SISTINE and FLUID address high-priority science questions identified in the 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey and 2013 NASA Astrophysics Roadmap. The hardware demonstrated on these pathfinder instruments is a crucial step towards meeting NASA's technology needs for UV-capable flagship, probe, and Explorer missions in the 2020s and beyond.

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

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