USA sets out vision for astronomy and astrophysics in decade ahead

Every ten years, the US scientific community is called upon to help produce a plan for Astronomy and Astrophysics in a process led by the country’s National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

The massive exercise identifies the most compelling science goals for the next decade and presents an ambitious programme of ground- and space-based activities for future US investment, as well as recommending critical near-term actions to support the foundations of the profession and the technologies and tools needed to carry out the science.

Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s is the result of that work, and outlines the US community’s priorities for the next decade. Those priorities for the largest astronomy community in the world include the development of a large (~6m aperture) infrared/optical/ ultraviolet space telescope (successor to the James Webb Space Telescope, due to launch in the next few weeks), a significantinvestmentintheUSExtremelyLargeTelescope Program (Giant Magellan Telescope and Thirty Meter Telescope), and a green light for progressing the design, prototyping and cost studies of the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), a radio telescope meant to operate in the higher bands of the radio regime. Those priorities will necessarily have an impact on the science that gets done and the facilities that get built even outside the USA. As we build and operate the SKA telescopes, these US facilities will be those that operate in tandem and in cooperation with the SKAO and we must ensure we maintain our close and valuable links with colleagues in the USA.

Several members of the SKA community took part in the process, such as SKAO’s Programme Director Joe McMullin, SKAO’s SKA-Low site Construction Director Ant Schinckel and SARAO’s Chief Technologist Justin Jonas who advised on technical, risk and cost evaluation assessments of large projects and The University of Manchester’s Professor of Radio Astronomy Anna Scaife who served on the radio astronomy review panel.

Beyond science, the report also makes a number of recommendations for the profession, in particular in terms of education, outreach, training, recruitment, sustainability, engagement with local communities and advancing equality, diversity and inclusion in the field.

While the USA is not a Member State of the SKAO, there are close links between a number of US institutions such as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Vera Rubin Observatory, the TMT, the GMT, and the SKAO, with experts serving on review panels and astronomers exploring future scientific synergies between our facilities. US astronomers represent ~7% of members of our Science Working Groups.

By Mathieu Isidro (SKAO)