Wonder makes us map the universe.
By The University of Arizona
The $40 million NASA project — the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, or GUSTO — will look at the cosmic gas and dust suspended among the stars of the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud. “Where we came from was gas and dust, called the interstellar medium,” Walker says. “GUSTO looks at three very important atoms for the formation of planets and life — carbon, oxygen and nitrogen.”
In 2021, Walker’s team will deploy a high-altitude balloon from Antarctica carrying a telescope with carbon, oxygen and nitrogen emission line detectors. The balloon allows researchers to efficiently create a road map of the universe, and in trial runs, “we had more data on a carbon line in one hour than a previous billion-dollar space mission captured in its whole lifetime,” he says. “We were able to demonstrate economy and scientific payoff.” The University of Arizona has a long history of space innovation. “Our scientists built instruments for Hubble; we have telescopes set up on local mountains and instruments in Antarctica,” Walker says. GUSTO’s mission will give researchers a clearer picture of stellar evolution while helping to unravel the galaxy’s complexities and determine where we came from.