Science and Enabling Technologies to Explore the Interstellar Medium
2015
This report summarizes two very exciting and illuminating KISS workshops held on September 8,
2014 and January 12, 2015 entitled, “Science and Enabling Technologies for the Exploration of the
Interstellar Medium (ISM),” led by Edward Stone (Caltech), Leon Alkalai (JPL), and Louis Friedman
(The Planetary Society, Co-Founder and Executive Director Emeritus). The timing for these
workshops aligned with two recent events related to the exploration of the ISM: in September 2013,
Caltech professor and Voyager Project Scientist Edward Stone announced that the Voyager 1
spacecraft had detected the Heliopause a year earlier, in August 2012 [1]. Unrelated to this, the Kepler
Space Telescope’s search for exoplanets (planets around other stars) has yielded spectacular results,
including the detection of Earth-like planets. Thus, the vast space between our star and those with
potentially habitable planets is slowly emerging into focus. This raises the question, “When and how will
humanity bridge this divide and reach toward such destinations?” Even more compelling is the question, “What
is a reasonable first step in that direction?” knowing full well that reaching another star is far beyond our
current technical capability. The workshops brought together over thirty scientists and engineers to
address the following key questions:
• Is there compelling science to be achieved on the way to, at, and in the ISM?
• What is a reasonable first step in the long road ahead?
• What are some of the enabling technologies required to reach beyond our solar system?
The answers to these questions were formulated in terms of 1) Astrophysics and Planetary science
on the way to the ISM at 5–100 AU, which would include the zodiacal background and dust
measurements and flyby of one or more Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs); 2) Heliophysics measurements
to obtain a better understanding of the complex environments inside and outside the protective bubble
created by our Sun as it travels through the ISM; 3) and Astrophysics from the vantage point of being
in the ISM at 100–700 AU, including parallax science, gravitational measurements, and the imaging of
exoplanets using gravitational lensing
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
1
Citations
NaN
KQI