Description
The galactic ecosystems theme is a candidate science theme for the ESA Voyage 2050 Large 5 launch slot. The GaiaNIR mission is proposed, based on the heritage and operational principles of the current Gaia mission, with the notable difference that the detectors would give coverage reaching into near infra red wavelengths. This would allow observations of stars in our Milky Way in regions of high extinction, allowing GaiaNIR to reach the parts of our Galaxy hidden to Gaia, in particular the Galactic centre and inner disk regions.
This presentation will provide an update on the GaiaNIR activities in the UK. In particular provide a status report on the current detector study being undertaken in the UK investigating the potential of novel detectors operating in a similar manner to the optical Gaia detectors. Use of these would simplify the baseline design of GaiaNIR, which currently assumes the need for IR detectors working in a stare mode which in turn necessitates the use of complex field de-rotation optics.
