4.23.24
Katie McKissick
MIT’s SuperFIRE instrument will enable inquiry into the cosmos, supporting the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
A revolution is coming to ground-based astronomy in the form of the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes, known as ELTs in the astrophysics field. Just as JWST ushered in an exciting new time for space-based telescopes, the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program aims to revolutionize understanding of the cosmos in the coming years, as laid out in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey
At MIT, the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is developing an instrument with the capability to enable inquiry in these impressive Earthly telescopes. Known as SuperFIRE, this optical infrared spectrometer will be able to study phenomena as varied as exoplanet atmospheres, strong gravity astrophysics, and the emergence of stars and galaxies.
The Kavli Foundation awarded MIT and the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research $3.1M to pursue development of SuperFIRE from concept to design readiness.
Kavli Institute Innovation Award | SuperFIRE
SuperFIRE is modeled after FIRE (also developed by the MIT Kavli Institute), the infrared spectrometer currently in use on the 6.5-meter Magellan telescopes deployed in Chile.
To be utilized in next-generation telescopes – the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Thirty Meter Telescope – SuperFIRE will need to be much more advanced to meet the demands brought by the four-fold size increase coming with Extremely Large Telescopes.
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“We’re building a spectrometer for a generation of telescopes that doesn’t yet exist,” said Robert Simcoe, director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “When you’re trying to build something this large, the traditional ways to perform design studies don’t scale along with it. With funding from The Kavli Foundation, we’ll do a study to understand how we can build it, how long it will take, and what it will cost. There are more risks to be retired when you’re doing something at the bleeding edge like this.”
The Kavli Institute at MIT has a proven track record of successful instrument development and execution, including past successes like TESS, for which Kavli Foundation funds also proved pivotal.
National Aeronautics Space Agency /Massachusetts Institute of Technology TESS
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Additional partners include Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; the Center for Astrophysics – Harvard and Smithsonian; MIT Lincoln Laboratory; and the NASA Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
“This award is an example of how The Kavli Foundation can further support its institutes with project-based funding, enabling the pursuit of specific frontier research,” said Greg Mack, science program officer in astrophysics at The Kavli Foundation. “Philanthropy plays an important role in funding projects at an early stage, before larger government investment is likely. We are thrilled to support this exciting endeavor, with potential to play a crucial role in the future of ground-based astronomy.”
See the full article here .
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The Kavli Foundation based in Oxnard, California is dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and promoting increased public understanding and support for scientists and their work.
The Foundation’s mission is implemented through an international program of research institutes; professorships; and symposia in the fields of astrophysics; nanoscience; neuroscience; and theoretical physics as well as prizes in the fields of astrophysics; nanoscience; and neuroscience.
The Kavli Foundation was established in December 2000 by its founder and benefactor Fred Kavli a Norwegian business leader and philanthropist who made his money by creating Kavlico- a company that made sensors; and by investing in real estate in southern California and Nevada. David Auston, a former president of Case Western Reserve University and former Bell Labs scientist, was the first president of the Kavli Foundation and is largely credited with the vision of the scientific investments. Kavli died in 2013 and his foundation is currently actively involved in establishing research institutes at universities throughout the United States, in Europe, and in Asia.
To date, the Kavli Foundation has made grants to establish Kavli Institutes on the campuses of 16 major universities. In addition to the Kavli Institutes, six Kavli professorships have been established: two at University of California-Santa Barbara, one each at University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Irvine, Columbia University, Cornell University, and California Institute of Technology.
The Kavli Institutes
Astrophysics
The Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University
The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
The Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at The Peking University [北京大学](CN)
The Kavli Institute for Cosmology at The University of Cambridge (UK)
The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at The University of Tokyo[(東京大] (JP)
Nanoscience
The Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell University
The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at The Delft University of Technology [Technische Universiteit Delft](NL)
The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at The California Institute of Technology
The Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard University
The Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at The University of California-Berkeley and The DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Neuroscience
The Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University
The Kavli Institute for Brain & Mind at The University of California-San Diego
The Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale University
The Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology [Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet](NO)
The Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at The Johns Hopkins University
The Kavli Neural Systems Institute at The Rockefeller University
The Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience at The University of California-San Francisco
Theoretical physics
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at The University of California-Santa Barbara
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China at The Chinese Academy of Sciences [中国科学院](CN)
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