Submillimeter telescope for the Russian segment of the ISS: Submillimetron Project

TL;DR

The Submillimetron project proposes a space-based submillimeter and infrared telescope on the ISS with enhanced sensitivity and resolution, aiming to discover new astrophysical objects in the early universe.

Contribution

It introduces a novel space telescope design with superconducting microbolometers and a cooling system, achieving background-limited sensitivity at 1 THz, surpassing previous instruments.

Findings

Achieves over an order of magnitude better sensitivity than IRAS.

Provides a resolution of about 1 arcminute and a field of view of 1 degree.

Enables full sky surveys to discover new astrophysical objects.

Abstract

The Submillimetron is the international project of the space telescope for astronomical studies at the submillimeter and infrared wavelengths using facilities of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). The concept of the telescope includes a 60 cm mirror cooled to liquid helium temperature with a novel type of microbolometers arrays using effects of superconductivity. This combination gives unique possibility to realize background limited sensitivity in the spectral minimum of the extraterrestrial background near frequency 1 THz between peaks of galactic dust emission and CMB. The angular resolution about 1 arcmin, field of view about 1 degree, and optics are similar to IRAS satellite, but the sensitivity is better on more than order of magnitude for about 10^-18 W/Hz^-1/2. This improvement and another spectral region permits to reveal in full sky survey considerably more new astrophysical objects. The concept of free flying instrument with periodic docking to ISS gives possibility to combine low cost with reliability, refilling, repairment and maintenance.