NASA and Israel are in the process of finalizing a deal in which NASA will support an upcoming astrophysics mission by the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Israel Space Agency, and the German research center DESY called Ultrasat. The agreement is expected to be signed shortly.
NASA would launch Ultrasat, which will operate in geostationary orbit, as part of the agreement. During a session of the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Jan. 11, NASA project scientist for Ultrasat James Rhoads stated that NASA would likely arrange to fly Ultrasat as a secondary payload on a commercial GEO launch.
An extensive ultraviolet telescope will be carried aboard Ultrasat. Eli Waxman, the principal investigator for Ultrasat at the Weizmann Institute of Science, stated during the session that the primary characteristics that set Ultrasat apart from other ultraviolet astronomy missions are the wide field of view and high sensitivity in the near-ultraviolet.
NASA, Israel Space Agreement
Israel Aerospace Industries is building the spacecraft, and DESY provides the ultraviolet camera. More than half of the spacecraft's mass is propellant, which propels it from a geostationary transfer orbit to its final GEO location at 4 degrees west, as reported by Space News.
Waxman stated that Ultrasat would carry enough fuel to operate for six years despite its three-year prime mission. He stated that the spacecraft's development was on track to launch in the first quarter of 2026. There are two main goals for Ultrasat. One is to look for ultraviolet traces of gravitational-wave events like neutron star mergers. Studying supernova explosions is the second option.
Those objectives are in good agreement with NASA's research priorities. The broad science themes from the Astro2020 decadal survey, which range from stellar and galactic astrophysics to gravitational waves, as Rhoads stated, are well aligned with Ultrasat and NASA's science goals. It is anticipated that Ultrasat will contribute to all of these areas.
Ultrasat Satellite's Role
The role that Ultrasat plays in the time domain and multimessenger astrophysics, or TDAMM, an emerging field that combines detections of gravitational waves or particles with observations at various light wavelengths, is of particular interest. The significance of TDAMM in addressing crucial scientific questions was emphasized in Astro2020.
Mark Clampin, director of NASA's astrophysics division, addressed the gathering and mentioned the Ultrasat value of international coordination when they talked about how they will achieve their Astro2020 TDAMM goals, meeting the suggestions that were made by the decadal survey.
In addition to providing Ultrasat's launch, NASA will set up a U.S.-based science archive and provide funding for the mission's scientists. Although Waxman stated that the total cost of Ultrasat, including the launch, was approximately $110 million, the agency has not disclosed the value of its contribution to the mission.
Regarding NASA's role on Ultrasat, Rhoads stated that he anticipated the agreement's final signatures within a few months. However, Kay Bailey Hutchison, a committee member, stated that NASA anticipated the agreement would be signed later this month at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council on January 17.
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