The World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO-UV), as a bridge to future UV astronomy

TL;DR

The WSO-UV is a crucial upcoming 2-meter UV telescope that will fill the gap in UV astronomy capabilities until large future observatories are launched, supporting key scientific research in the field.

Contribution

This paper updates the design, capabilities, and science goals of the WSO-UV, emphasizing its role as the main UV observatory before 2030.

Findings

WSO-UV will be the only 2-m class UV telescope available in the next decade.

It will have capabilities similar to the HST for UV observations.

The project includes detailed instrument specifications and a ground segment architecture.

Abstract

The ultraviolet (UV) astronomy is a very demanded branch of space astronomy. Many dozens of short-term UV-experiments in space, as well as long-term observatories, have brought a very important knowledge on the physics and chemistry of the Universe during the last decades. Unfortunately, no large UV-observatories are planned to be launched by most of space agencies in the coming 10 -- 15 years. Conversely, the large UVOIR observatories of the future will appear not earlier than in 2030s. This paper briefly describes the projects that have been proposed by various groups. We conclude that the World Space Observatory -- Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) will be the only 2-m class UV telescope with capabilities similar to those of the HST for the next decade. The WSO-UV has been described in detail in previous publications, and this paper updates the main characteristics of its instruments and the current state of the whole project. It also addresses the major science topics that have been included in the core program of the WSO-UV, making this core program very relevant to the current state of the UV-astronomy. Finally, we also present here the ground segment architecture that will implement this program.