The space agency is moving forward with a new telescope design, and it seeks to see the universe in a manner the roughly $10 $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope cannot. NASA has entered the preliminary design and tech phase, referred to as Phase B, for PRIMA, the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics. Should everything go according to plan, PRIMA will launch no earlier than 2033, on a five-year mission.
The far-infrared cosmos is where this telescope will focus its gaze, using a 5.9-foot (1.8-meter) instrument built for those wavelengths. That’s a different set of frequencies than the ones JWST watches — the one that launched in 2021. Hubble and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope can see some infrared light too, but JWST was built specifically for near- and mid-infrared.
The PRIMA Science Questions
An associate professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in planetary system formation spoke with Live Science about what PRIMA can do that JWST cannot.
“The key science questions that PRIMA aims to address in relation to planet formation are to quantify the role of water in driving planet formation, [and to] determine the total gas masses and carbon and oxygen abundances in disks to reveal where exoplanets form,” MacGregor said.
She added that she was sure of it, “We can’t actually address these science questions with JWST,” and that she had no doubt about the matter at all, “because the spectral lines that are required are only in the far-infrared — longer wavelengths than JWST is sensitive to.”.
The entire purpose of PRIMA rests on this difference. JWST specializes in near- and mid-infrared light, a feature that explains its $10 billion price tag. PRIMA was built to excel in the far-infrared, a wavelength range where the older telescope falls short, thus closing the gaps it cannot reach.
The Team Behind the Project
Alberto Bolatto, an observational astronomer at the University of Maryland who leads galaxy evolution research for PRIMA, is delighted about the project.
Bolatto said in a statement that “I’m most excited about the things I don’t yet know,” according to “I am elated to be part of the future of astronomy — to produce an instrument that is going to be an enormous tool for the astronomy community to move humanity’s knowledge forward.”.
A staff scientist at Caltech, who serves as the PRIMA co-investigator and science operations lead, was quoted as speaking on the mission’s potential.
“I am particularly excited about how PRIMA will help us discover and understand the role of powerful molecular outflows in galaxies over cosmic time, and how they shape star formation and the growth of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies,” Armus said in a separate statement.
The Cost of the Mission
The project cost cap for PRIMA stands at $1.2 billion, which excludes launch costs, as well as nonproject expenses. By comparison, the launch cost for JWST was $10 billion in 2021, a figure that similarly does not include inflation or launch expenses.
A telescope built to detect what the $10 billion James Webb cannot detect comes with a fixed price ceiling, which makes the comparison simple.
A New Class of Spacecraft
PRIMA is the first in a new class of spacecraft that NASA is calling Probe Explorers. These are meant to sit somewhere in between flagship missions like JWST and smaller agency efforts. The Probe Explorers are part of the decades-old Explorers Program, which began with the Explorer 1 launch in 1958 and followed with more than 100 missions.
Explorers perform “a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system, and the universe,” according to the agency. The Probe Explorers were implemented after a recommendation from astrophysicists through the 2020 Decadal Survey, a consensus report issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the community.
How NASA Decided to Proceed
NASA funded two concepts at $5 million apiece in 2024 and considered both PRIMA and the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite before announcing the decision to proceed with PRIMA this week. The agency stated Wednesday (Sept. 23) that it selected PRIMA for development after detailed evaluation of concept studies for Probe Explorer missions.
The assessment rested on scientific merit, in line with the Decadal Survey’s recommendations, feasibility of development plans on cost and schedule, and use of technologies that could support the development of future large missions. NASA’, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage PRIMA, with contributions from many other NASA centers and international agencies.
What Happens Next
The mission is now in Phase B, the preliminary design and tech phase. Managers will review the mission’s progress before officially beginning the telescope’s journey to launch. If all goes to plan, PRIMA will embark on a five-year mission no earlier than 2033.
With a project cost cap of $1.2 billion, NASA regards PRIMA as a mid-sized mission rather than a flagship.
- PRIMA is in Phase B, the preliminary design and tech phase
- Project cost cap: $1.2 billion, excluding launch and other nonproject expenses
- JWST launch cost: $10 billion, 2021
- Mission duration: five years
- Launch no earlier than: 2033
- Telescope diameter: 5.9 feet (1.8 meters)
The contrast between PRIMA and JWST comes down to scale. Built to see near- and mid-infrared light, JWST occupies one part of the electromagnetic spectrum. PRIMA, by contrast, is designed for far-infrared. Thus the two telescopes operate in entirely different regions of that same spectrum.
What PRIMA will find that has never been seen before is the real question worth asking. Bolatto’s excitement about the things he does not yet know is the right attitude for a mission this ambitious. We will not know what discoveries PRIMA makes until it opens its eye to the universe.
The telescope currently exists only in concept, with the design phase still underway. A mission review is the next checkpoint, followed by a long road toward launch.
Source material: “NASA teases new PRIMA telescope that could see what even the James Webb telescope can't,” Live Science.
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