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All-Sky Visible and Near Infrared Space Astrometry

The Vision

Mission Summary

The Consortium

Science and technology roadmap for μas studies of the Milky Way

The Art of Astrometry and Computation

All-Sky Visible and Near Infrared Space Astrometry
The star count ratio per square degree between GaiaNIR and Gaia

Science Cases

All-sky NIR astrometry to peer through the dust of the Milky Way to reveal the hidden regions of the Galaxy.

All-sky visible astrometry to combined with the older Gaia catalogue and a 20 year interval will give very accurate proper motions and improved parallaxes needed to measure larger distances. 

Re-initialise the slowly degrading accuracy of the Gaia visible reference frame back to maximal accuracy.

All-sky projection in Galactic coordinates of the star counts per square degree for GaiaNIR

Mission Design

The space telescope will be based on an off-axis f=35m Korsch telescope similar to that used for Gaia. New detectors are being developed that will enable Near InfraRed astrometry and will operate in Time Delayed Integration mode to accumulate the faint stellar light as the telescope scans the entire sky.

Optical paths for light in within the spacecraft

The Timeline

Ideally the telescope should be launched around 2045 to allow a sufficient time gap between Gaia and the new mission. The long time baseline will ensure that the accuracy of the proper motions will benefit. The mission aims to include international partners and will be suitable as an ESA Large-class or medium-class mission.

News and upcoming meetings:

  • Science and technology roadmap for μas studies of the Milky Way meeting [July 2023 - Lund]
  • The Art of Astrometry and Computation [June 2024 - Lund]
  • Technical challenges of space-based astronomy [July 2025 - Cambridge]