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A New SOFIA Science VisionIntroduction and Schedule Progress

Tom Roellig

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Why the Need for New Science Vision?

– In some recent presentations to scientific review groups, including high-level NASA advisory groups, we have received comments that can be paraphrased as: “The SOFIA science that you have presented is useful, but does not rise to the level that justifies the costs of SOFIA.”

– Cost per science observing hour for SOFIA is very high, even compared to expensive space missions like HST, Spitzer, Chandra. The cost per science realized is NASA’s foremost project evaluation metric - therefore we need to emphasize the importance and uniqueness of the SOFIA science potential

– Need to develop a small set of potential SOFIA projects: Immediately recognizable as answering, or instrumental in answering, very important outstanding astrophysics questions Not a list of everything SOFIA could do, but instead a short list of ”killer science” investigations The SOFIA data is essential – not just supplementary

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New Science Visions Working Group

– Co-chaired by Eric Becklin and Tom Roellig

– Meet weekly at ARC with USRA and NASA scientists to coordinate efforts

– Developed approach and charter given on subsequent slides to attack this issue

– Identified four organizational science themes and selected chairs for each of these themes

– Panel chairs responsible for identifying the rest of their panel

– Provides deputies to the Panel Chairs

– Science Project provides financial support if needed to the panel members

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Themes’ Charters

– Define a small number (3-4) of big-picture, overarching science themes for which SOFIA will make significant, unique contributions

– Assemble a group of senior experts to identify, prioritize, and expand upon sub themes and science questions that can be answered by SOFIA, and how SOFIA will contribute to general astrophysics understanding overall

– Consider the recommendations and priorities for SOFIA science being assembled by:

The Vision 2020 Workshop WhitepaperThe January, 2008 AAS SOFIA Workshop WhitepaperThe update to Tom Greene’s 2005 SOFIA Science Cases

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Products

– A concise, clearly written, well documented and peer reviewed Science Vision publication, not more that 50 pages in length, that conveys the compelling scientific contributions of SOFIA, and its complementary and extending role for existing and planned space and ground-based IR observations.

– Written for a general astronomy audience.

– Science enabled by future yet-to-be-developed instruments < 25% of the Science Vision.

– Executive summary of the above paper

– A synopsis of the Science Vision of no more than 16 PowerPoint slides for use by the Decadal Survey committee, as well as by the astronomy community in general.

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Schedule 1

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Schedule 2

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Schedule 3

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