Legacy Program: Motivation
SPITZER HOME - SPITZER SCIENCE - INSTRUMENTS - SCIENCE USER SUPPORT - SEARCH
News
Research Categories
Science Schedules
Advisory Groups
Observing Rules
Data Analysis Funding
Exploration Science Program
Legacy Program
First-Look Survey
Observatory & Instruments
Overview
PCS
IRAC
IRS
MIPS
AOTs
Science User Support
Proposal Kit
Documents
Tools
Approved Programs
Observing Schedules
Data Archives & Analysis
Science Archive Access
Post-BCD Tools
Motivation
As Spitzer underwent two fiscally-mandated redesigns in the early 1990s, project managers and engineers derived clever and ingenious schemes for protecting the scientific integrity and vitality of the program. As the original 5-year lifetime seemed to be sliced in half, scientists within the Project Office and throughout the external user community realized that they too would have to re-examine the way science is conducted with such a precious resource.The apparent reduction in available observing time understated the true impact because of the need for "thinking time," that is, the time required for collection, analysis, and dissemination of data, followed by the subsequent proposing of additional follow-on investigations. The usual iterative cycle of
propose -----> observe -----> analyze -----> publish -----> interpret -----> re-propose
is too lengthy for a short cryogenic mission. The potential loss of scientific knowledge is particularly great for Spitzer, where the huge increase in "astronomical throughput" (sensitivity, efficiency, sky coverage) will inevitably lead to discoveries that are unexpected and/or unobservable by any other means. With this stark realization in mind, the Spitzer Project and its community-based advisory group at the time - the Community Task Force - formulated a unique and innovative program that seeks to establish an early and long-lasting heritage: the Spitzer Legacy Science Program.
Go back to Legacy information home page or
on to Fundamental Principles.
