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A revolution similar to that brought by CCDs to visible astronomy is still ahead in IR and submillimeter astronomy. There is certainly no wavelength range which has, over the past several years, seen such impressive advances in technology: large-scale detector arrays, new designs for cooling in space, lightweight mirror technologies. Scientific cases for observing the cold universe are outstanding. Observations in the FIR/Submm range will provide answers to such fundamental questions as: What is the spectrum of the primordial fluctuations? How do primeval galaxies look? What are the first stages of star formation? Most of the international space missions that have been triggered by these questions are presented in detail here. Technological issues raised by these missions are reviewed, as are the most recent achievements in cooling and detector technologies.
List of contents
Solar System Observations and Future Missions.- Extragalactic Observations and Future Missions.- Detection Limits in the Far Infrared.- Background Limited Infrared and Submillimeter Instruments.- Simulations of the Microwave Sky and of Its "Observations".- Radiative and Hybrid Cooling of Infrared Space Telescopes.- The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO).- The Infrared Space Observatory: Telescope Design.- Infrared Telescope in Space: IRTS.- Infrared Astronomy on the Midcourse Space Experiment.- The Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE).- SOFIA: The Next Generation Airborne Observatory.- POST: Polar Stratospheric Telescope.- Infrared Imaging Surveyor: IRIS.- Optics of the Far Infra-Red and Submillimetre Space Telescope.- SIRTF: The Moderate Mission.- The Edison Infrared Space Observatory.- The Boomerang Experiment.- The Far Infrared Explorer (FIRE).- OLBERS: An Interplanetary Probe to Study Visible and Infrared Diffuse Backgrounds.- How to Evidence Primitive Life on an Exo-Planet? - The DARWIN Project.- The Near Infrared High Resolution Imaging Camera Program of Beijing Observatory.- The Effect of Realistic Surface Properties on Low Temperature Space Observatories.- The Management of Stray Radiation Issues in Space Optical Systems.- Pulse Tube Refrigerators.- The Use of Closed Cycle Coolers on Space Based Observatories.- Adiabatic Demagnetisation Refrigerators for Future Sub-Millimetre Space Missions.- Infrared Detection, Review of Existing and Future Devices.- A Novel Bolometer for Infrared and Millimeter-Wave Astrophysics.
