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Session 73 - Instrumentation.
Display session, Wednesday, January 17
North Banquet Hall, Convention Center
The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite will obtain high spectral resolution (\lambda/ \Delta \lambda\ = 30,000) astronomical measurements in the 905 - 1195 Å\ bandpass from low-earth orbit. The high sensitivity and low background of the instrument will permit high spectral resolution FUV observations of extragalactic sources, as well as sources throughout our Galaxy. This mission will provide unique information for a number of scientific problems. These include the deuterium/hydrogen ratio in a wide variety of environments such as the disk and halo of the Galaxy, high velocity clouds, and the halos of other galaxies, the measurement of O VI in the disk and halo to determine the distribution, kinematics, and the sources of the ionization of hot gas in the Galaxy and observations of QSOs in the redshift range 2 < z < 2.9 to search for evidence of the Gunn-Peterson effect in He II. The mission has completed preliminary design and is proceeding towards approval for development beginning in December 1995. Launch is scheduled for October 1998. To reduce cost, the mission will be implemented as a PI class mission. However, a large fraction of the mission time will be available for Guest Investigators. This paper will discuss the instrument concept, assess the status of the mission development and describe the Guest Investigator Program. Additional information on the FUSE program can be obtained on the World Wide Web at http://profuse.pha.jhu.edu/fuse.html.
