World Space Observatory Ultraviolet Mission Research Articles

Space Instrumentation of the WSO-UV Mission for Astrophysics Research

The WSO-UV (World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet) space mission, optical design of the telescope, and main scientific instruments are briefly overviewed. A description of the photosensitive device of the WSO-UV mission based on a back-illuminated CCD with an antireflection coating is presented. Methods to improve the radiation resistance and reduce contamination on the CCD surface are described.

Web-Resources for Astronomical Data in the Ultraviolet

In this paper we describe databases of space projects that are operating or have operated in the ultraviolet spectral region. We give brief descriptions and links to major sources for UV data on the web: archives, space mission sites, databases, catalogues. We pay special attention to the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet mission that will be launched in 2021.

WSO-UV progress and expectations

The World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) is the space mission that will grant access to the ultraviolet (UV) range in the post Hubble epoch. WSO-UV is equipped with instrumentation for imaging and spectroscopy and it is fully devoted to UV astronomy. In this article, we outline the WSO-UV mission model and present the current status of the project.

Major prospects of exoplanet astronomy with the World Space Observatory–UltraViolet mission

The success of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) first and then of the STIS and COS spectrographs on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) demonstrate the impact that observations at UV wavelengths had and are having on modern astronomy. Several discoveries in the exoplanet field have been done at UV wavelengths. Nevertheless, the amount of data collected in this band is still limited both in terms of observed targets and time spent on each of them. For the next decade, the post-HST era, the only large (2-m class) space telescope capable of UV observations will be the World Space Observatory–UltraViolet (WSO–UV). In its characteristics, the WSO–UV mission is similar to that of HST, but all observing time will be dedicated to UV astronomy. In this work, we briefly outline the major prospects of the WSO–UV mission in terms of exoplanet studies. To the limits of the data and tools currently available, here we also compare the quality of key exoplanet data obtained in the far-UV and near-UV with HST (STIS and COS) to that expected to obtain with WSO–UV.

World space observatory-ultraviolet among UV missions of the coming years

Continuous access to the UV domain has been considered of importance to astrophysicists and planetary scientists since the mid-sixties. However, the future of UV missions for the post-HST era is believed by a significant part of astronomical community to be less encouraging. We argue that key science problems of the coming years will require further development of UV observational technologies. Among these hot astrophysical issues are: the search for missing baryons, revealing the nature of astronomical engines, properties of atmospheres of exoplanets as well as of the planets of the Solar System etc. We give a brief review of UV-missions both in the past and in the future. We conclude that UV astronomy has a great future but the epoch of very large and efficient space UV facilities seems to be a prospect for the next decades. As to the current state of the UV instrumentation we think that this decade will be dominated by the HST and coming World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) with a 1.7 m UV-telescope onboard. The international WSO-UV mission is briefly described. It will allow high resolution/high sensitivity imaging and high/low resolution spectroscopy from the middle of the decade.

Scientific program construction principles and time allocation scheme for the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet mission

We present scientific program construction principles and a time allocation scheme developed for the World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) mission, which is an international space observatory for observation in UV spectral range 100-300 nm. The WSO-UV consists of a 1.7 m aperture telescope with instrumentation designed to carry out high resolution spectroscopy, long-slit low resolution spectroscopy and direct sky imaging. The WSO-UV Ground Segment is under development by Spain and Russia. They will coordinate the Mission and Science Operations and provide the satellite tracking stations for the project. The WSO-UV will work as a targeted scientific observatory. Three scientific programs will be carried out at the observatory. Core Program of scientific observations, which deserves large amounts of observing time, will be defined by the WSO-UV Science Committee to allow the conduction of high impact or legacy scientific projects. Funding Bodies Program is the guaranteed time granted to each one of the national bodies funding the WSO-UV project. Guest observer program for everyone, or Open Program, consists of astronomical observations obtained with the WSO-UV by astronomers who may or may not belong to the WSO-UV international consortium. It is open to excellent scientific projects from the world-wide community and occupies up to 40% of total observational time. Apart from the particularities associated to a science mission, this new mission will be affected by a new concept of observations management, trying to maximize the scientific return of this mission, and the shared operations between the two sites located in Spain and Russia. A brief summary of the algorithmic strategies analyzed for scheduling optimization is also given in the paper.