Chile will be the base for NASA’s airborne telescope

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chile received positive news in the scientific field since the national authorities received the notification that the SOFIA mission will land in Chile for two weeks, in the first instance, and then return in the coming months.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Andrés Couve, told El Mercurio that “we have received the official announcement of the NASA SOFIA mission’s operations in Chile as great news that broadens the spectrum of astronomical observation instruments that study the universe from Chile”.

The Secretary of State highlighted the measure since this alliance “will allow opening collaboration opportunities for the national scientific community”.

SOFIA will be installed in the South West warehouse area of the Arturo Merino Benítez Airport. It will have 500 m2 of offices, warehouses, and areas for the 70 crew members to do their work without any inconvenience.

In the first instance, the crew will be in Chile for two weeks in March, starting on the 18th.

After that, the NASA mission is expected to return to Chilean soil in June and September, depending on weather conditions.

WHAT IS SOFIA?

The SOFIA device is a Boeing 747SP aircraft, modified by Raytheon Aircraft Integration Services, which mounted a 2.5-meter reflective telescope on this aircraft.

NASA points out that this is the “largest airborne observatory globally, ” which makes “observations that are impossible for even the largest and most powerful ground-based telescope”.

Part of SOFIA’s work is to monitor:

• Birth and death of stars;
• Formation of new solar systems;
• Identification of complex space molecules;
• planets, comets, and asteroids in our solar system;
• Nebulae and dust in galaxies (or Ecosystems of galaxies);
• Black holes in the center of galaxies.

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