Abstract
The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) concept is designed to investigate the creation and dispersal of elements essential to life, the formation of planetary systems, and the transport of water to habitable worlds and the atmospheres of exoplanets around nearby K- and M-dwarfs to identify potentially habitable—and even inhabited—worlds. These science priorities are aligned with NASA’s three major astrophysics science goals: How does the Universe work? How did we get here? and Are we alone? We briefly describe the science case that arose from the astronomical community and the science traceability matrix for Origins. The science traceability matrix prescribes the design of Origins and demonstrates that it will address the key science questions motivated by the science case.
Highlights
The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) traces our cosmic history, from the formation of the first galaxies and the rise of metals to the development of habitable worlds and present-day life
Decades of observations have shown that galaxies condensed out of primordial gas, built up their stellar mass, heavy metals, and central supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and evolved into the systems we see today
There is a rich interplay between the drivers of galaxy evolution, which can only be understood through new observations in a currently inaccessible wavelength regime, the far-infrared (Fig. 2)
Summary
The Origins Space Telescope (Origins) traces our cosmic history, from the formation of the first galaxies and the rise of metals to the development of habitable worlds and present-day life. Origins does this through exquisite sensitivity to infrared radiation from ions, atoms, molecules, dust, water vapor, and ice, and observations of extrasolar planetary atmospheres, protoplanetary disks, and large-area extragalactic fields.
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