The Mid and Far IR Universe, and Facilities to See It

Although half the luminosity of the universe appears in the band from 20-450 μ m, almost nothing is known about the sources of this radiation. Moreover, many molecules, atoms, and ions of astrophysical interest have some of their strongest lines in this wavelength range. Now IRAS and ISO have flown, SIRTF is nearly ready, SOFIA is under construction, and NGST, ALMA, Herschel, Planck, and a dozen 8 m and a 25 m ground-based visible/near IR telescopes could all be operational by the end of decade. Nevertheless, the mid and far IR region will still not have telescopes that are comparable to neighboring bands in energy sensitivity or angular resolution, despite these many advances. What scientific questions will still be open, and what instrumentation will be required? We anticipate that cold filled-aperture telescopes operating out to 100 μ m and cold imaging interferometers operating out to about 450 μ m in space could be very powerful, using direct detection rather than heterodyne systems. I will give a brief overview of the scientific questions that may still be open, the main factors governing the choice of equipment, and the technological developments that would be required to actually build and use these new facilities.