Arizona researcher wins $20M NASA mission grant for compact telescope
04 Feb 2021
From Ford Burkhart in Tucson
Asperaâs mission will feature a space telescope âthe size of a mini fridgeâ.A 30-year-old University of Arizona postdoc researcher has won a $20 million NASA space mission grant by designing a compact, original version of the huge space telescopes, like the Hubble, that began sailing into space in the 1990s.
The Hubble Space Telescope was 14m (45 feet) long. By contrast, Carlos Vargas, of the UAâs Steward Observatory, has proposed a slimmed down device, called the Aspera â with dimensions of only 200 x 350 x 400mm (8 x 14 x 16 in).
UArizona Will Lead NASA Space Telescope Mission to Reveal Unseen, Dynamic Lives of Galaxies NASA has selected Carlos Vargas, a postdoctoral researcher in UArizona s Steward Observatory, to lead a $20 million mission to build a space telescope that will map vast regions of star-forming gas that have eluded observation for decades.
By Daniel Stolte, University of Arizona Jan. 7, 2021 Located 12 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, M82, or the Cigar Galaxy, is known for its intense rate of star formation. Vast regions of gas provide the fuel from which new stars are born. The Aspera mission will send a small telescope into space to map the distribution of some of this gas and help answer fundamental questions about how galaxies evolve.
NASA has selected Carlos Vargas, a UArizona postdoctoral researcher, to lead a $20 million mission to build a space telescope that will map vast regions of star-forming gas that have eluded observation for decades.