Building International Space Observatories
Abstract
In this brief presentation I will focus on international collaborations for building x-ray observatories. Two primary approaches seem relevant for discussion: 1. Contribution of an instrument by one Agency to a mission led by another 2. Substantial participation by 2 or more Agencies in designing and building an Observatory - close to equal partnerships. Most of our experience in x-ray astronomy falls into the first category, and I will illustrate by briefly summarizing Chandra. The second case will be assessed by reviewing the community's and Agencies' efforts on the International X-ray Observatory (IXO). What can we distill from the successes and difficulties encountered over the past several years? Thoughts about how we might proceed in the future will be shared during the subsequent Panel Discussion. Independent of the development approach, we seem to have general agreement that the bulk of the observing time should be open to scientists world-wide through Peer Review to optimize the science return.
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #13
- Pub Date:
- April 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013HEAD...1310602T