Astrophysics & Space
Unveiling the mysteries of the Universe with rapid realizations of innovative technology
Goals
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Expand the frontiers of astrophysics and spur discovery through the implementation of cutting edge technology and the cultivation of world-class talent
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Drastically reduce the cost and time curves for development by embracing risk, cross-pollinating ground and space-based technologies, and encouraging collaboration across industry and academia
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Democratize access to astronomy resources by supporting global usage and open science while empowering early-career researchers to be the first users of new assets
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Promote widespread and reliable integration of AI and advanced computing into astrophysics
Supported Projects
- Observational Platforms
- Computational Tools
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DSA-2000
The DSA-2000 is a proposed radio survey telescope and multi-messenger discovery engine that will consist of a multitude of antennae built with innovative low-maintenance parts. Unlike traditional radio telescopes that require complex data interpretation and deconvolution, this array will produce well-sampled near real-time images of the radio sky.
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Argus
The Argus array consists of 800 small telescopes multiplexed into a hemispherical cradle to mimic a 5m aperture for a tenth of the cost, and minimal maintenance needs. Argus will create a high cadence two-color movie of the entire night sky continuously over a period of 5 years, to produce an incredible time domain dataset for exploring both periodic and stochastic phenomena.
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Large Fiber Array Spectroscopic Telescope (LFAST)
LFAST is a scalable observatory design where hundreds to thousands of small telescopes are combined using optical fibers to feed a high-resolution spectrograph. The staggering photon collecting ability of this design would enable, for example, a comprehensive search for biosignatures in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets.
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Morning Star mission to Venus
The Morning Star mission consists of a small direct-entry probe that will sample the Venusian atmosphere with an AutoFluorescence Nephelometer. With a lifetime of only about 5 minutes in the harsh environment, the probe will look for in-situ evidence of organic molecules within the cloud layers at a 48-60 kilometer altitude.
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Cryoscope
Cryoscope is a fully cryogenic experimental telescope destined for the Antarctic, where it will study the dynamic infrared sky. The team is testing a novel optical design and new sensor technology to build a wide-field surveyor that is uniquely powerful for multi-messenger astrophysics.
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LINCC Frameworks
The LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC) unites communities with shared tools to maximize discoveries from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. LINCC Frameworks provides the computational architecture and code researchers need to manage the unprecedented scale and complexity of the upcoming LSST data.
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FutureLens
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will discover thousands of gravitationally-lensed quasars, each producing multiple images due to the curvature of spacetime. To decode these structures and access the underlying information on dark matter, this project is developing machine learning driven pipelines and tools for the study of lenses and lightcurves in Rubin data.
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Subaru PFS Optimization
This project uses machine learning in a feedback loop to optimize follow-up of celestial objects in large spectroscopic surveys such as the Prime Focus Spectrograph on the Subaru telescope. The team is also applying ML techniques to improve spectral data extraction and control instrument systematics.
