A one-meter aperture wide-field camera for the Japanese exposure module on space station

Description/Abstract

We propose to construct and deploy a one-meter, wide field camera for cosmological, science education and other studies and site it on the International Space Station{close_quote}s Japanese Exposure Module (JEM). The SHOUT Telescope (for S{underscore}pace H{underscore}ands-O{underscore}n U{underscore}niverse T{underscore}elescope) is an inexpensive powerful instrument that will yield some of the most significant measurements in astrophysics. The detector would consist of a 15,000{times}15,000 pixel{sup 2} imaging CCD made of high-resistivity silicon, with quantum efficiency of approximately 50{percent} at one micron. In addition, a single channel spectrograph is included for spectroscopy on any interesting photometric discoveries. Advances in graphite carbon mirrors and telescope construction enable an instrument weight of about 100{endash}200 kg. Such a low-weight instrument could be placed on a mass-limited shuttle launch. This system would have a performance for finding point objects in a random field {approximately}100x of that of the Advanced Camera system on HST at a wavelength of one micron. It would fill an under-exploited niche of the electromagnetic and time-variability spectrum and enable a broad range of synoptic measurements at high redshifts. In addition, cosmological effects measured in supernovae, quasars, galaxies, are large at z{approximately}1 to 2, ideally suited for I band studies{emdash}a region of great sensitivity for this instrument. The scientific program would include the discovery and follow-up of approximately 1000 Type 1a supernovae, discovery and studies of quasar lenses, a determination of this distribution and nature of micro-lensing sources, a deep field covering many square degrees in several colors to 27th magnitude and 0.2 arc-second resolution. A unique feature of this mission is that a strong collaboration between scientists, teachers, and students will be embedded in the operations of this system. Students will be able to collaborate on all of the science undertaken. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}