NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA): A Discovery Machine for Planetary Science

Details NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA): A Discovery Machine for Planetary Science NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA): A Discovery Machine for Planetary Science

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.4608b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #46.08

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As an airborne astronomical facility, NASA's SOFIA mission will be capable of significant investigations in planetary science. SOFIA's capabilities relative to space-based infrared observatories include being able to observe objects closer to the sun than Earth's orbit such as comets at their most active phases, and to point directly at bright planets and their inner moons. SOFIA is superior to ground-based observatories in its ability to measure spectral features of biogenic molecules and the peak thermal emission of planets at wavelengths that are blocked by tropospheric water vapor. SOFIA's mobility permits observation of faint stellar occultations and other transient targets of opportunity from locations anywhere on Earth. SOFIA's planned 20-year operational lifetime will allow monitoring of seasonal and episodic changes in slow-orbiting outer planets and their satellites over decade timescales, bridging from the present to future generations of robotic missions. With its first suite of eight instruments, SOFIA's high angular and spectral resolutions make it a powerful facility for increasing our understanding of planetary atmospheres, the solar system's chemical history, and cosmological D/H ratios.

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