Far-infrared telescope launched in 2033... Explore the secrets of galaxies, black holes, and planetary systems

Far-infrared telescope launched in 2033... Explore the secrets of galaxies, black holes, and planetary systems

Leveraging SpearX’s cooperation experience… Cryogenic testing and spectroscopic calibration support

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seunghan Cho = The Korea Aerospace Administration announced that the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute will participate as an international cooperation partner in the 'Prima' project, which was selected as the next-generation space telescope mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Prima is a space telescope that observes space through far-infrared rays and is scheduled to be launched in 2033.

Equipped with a 1.8m primary mirror (mirror), a high-performance far-infrared spectrometer, and an imager, it is possible to precisely observe the cold, dust-covered universe that is difficult to understand with visible light or near-infrared light.

It is a semi-large-scale mission promoted to study the chemical evolution of galaxies, the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes, the formation process of stars and planetary systems, and the origin of water.

NASA established a new semi-large mission worth $1.2 billion (1.6 trillion won) between large missions and small and medium-sized missions, and selected Prima as the first mission.

The domestic research team will participate in the overall Prima mission based on experience in cryogenic testing, spectroscopic verification and calibration, data analysis, and scientific research accumulated through international cooperation with NASA's infrared space telescope SPHEREx.

The Astronomical Research Institute has decided to further improve the cryogenic performance test chamber used for the existing Spear

In scientific research, we also conduct extensive multi-wavelength joint research combining SphereX's all-sky near-infrared spectroscopic data and Prima far-infrared observation data.

Park Jang-hyeon, director of the Astronomy Research Institute, said, "Through this participation, we will further advance our research and development capabilities in the space telescope field and develop our country's ability to lead the next-generation space telescope mission in the future."