FIRST (HERSCHEL) in the Context of Contemporary Facilities

FIRST has excellent capabilities for mapping and for high resolution spectroscopy in the heretofore largely unexplored region of the spectrum known as the Far-Infrared or submillimeter regime. In the wavelength range from about 80 microns to about 600 microns FIRST will have angular resolution as low as 6 arc sec (at 80 microns) and spectral resolution as low as 0.1 km s^-1 (heterodyne). In L2 orbit, with a passively cooled 3.5 m primary mirror, FIRST will have great sensitivity and capability for both large area and deep surveying for nearby and distant objects. However, there will be very powerful contemporary intruments also operating in the same, or adjacent wavelength bands. It is important to discuss where these other instruments may compete with FIRST, either over a wavelength range, or for a particular science objective, and equally to find where FIRST is unique, or where it can perform a complementary function. Here we discuss the relative merits of FIRST, SIRTF, SOFIA and ALMA.