George Mason University will be home to a space mission that hopes to answer some of the big questions of the universe. The university will host the Landolt NASA Space Mission, a $19.5 million mission to put an artificial star in orbit around the Earth, George Mason announced in a news release.
This artificial star will orbit the Earth from 22,236 miles away, allowing scientists to calibrate telescopes and measure the brightness of stars in photons-per-second emitted. That information can help scientists begin to answer questions about the speed and acceleration of the universe’s expansion.
“This mission marks another first for George Mason University, a milestone that proves our impact as a major public research university truly knows no bounds,” George Mason University President Gregory Washington said.
Peter Plavchan, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at George Mason’s College of Science, will serve as the principal investigator of the Landolt Mission. GMU students and faculty will work with NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and nine other organizations to conduct the project.
“This is what is considered an infrastructure mission for NASA, supporting the science in a way that we’ve known we needed to do, but with a transformative change in how we do it,” Plavchan said.
The artificial star will launch into the sky in 2029 with a known emission rate of photons, allowing the team to compare that brightness to the brightness of real stars. It will have eight lasers that will allow grounded telescopes to calibrate.
This artificial star will move at the same speed as the Earth, allowing it to stay at same place over the United States for the first year it is in space. While it will not be visible to the naked eye, it will be bright that those with a personal telescope at home may spot it.
“This mission is focused on measuring fundamental properties that are used daily in astronomical observations,” said Eliad Peretz, NASA Goddard mission and instrument scientist and Landolt’s deputy principal investigator. “It might impact and change the way we measure or understand the properties of stars, surface temperatures, and the habitability of exoplanets.”
Feature image of Peter Plavchan by Ron Aira/Creative Services/George Mason University
For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine’s News newsletter.
