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While billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are focused on building rockets to reach space and other planets, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is exploring a different way to reach stars – by building the “eyes” to see it. According to a report by The New York Times, Schmidt Sciences – a part of the Schmidts’ philanthropic efforts – unveiled a plan at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society to disrupt the field of astrophysics.Through their philanthropic organisation, Eric and Wendy Schmidt are financing four advanced instruments known collectively as the Schmidt Observatory System, with a to rival the capabilities of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope within a four-year time frame.
Schmidt Sciences wants to ‘accelerate discovery’
Schmidt’s strategy is different from decade-long missions of federal agencies like NASA as the foundation is focussed at creating instruments with three-to-five-year “experimental” lifespans. The projects largely take technologies already available. For example, they take high-performance computer chips with advanced AI capabilities and utilise them in novel ways to offer new capabilities to astronomers.“This is an experiment in accelerating astrophysics discovery,” said Arpita Roy, the lead of the Astrophysics and Space Institute at Schmidt Sciences, adding, “We accept much more risk”, which is “calibrated, thoughtful.”
Four projects of Schmidt observatory system
The observatory system will have four distinct projects designed to work in unison, targeting specific cosmic mysteries like dark energy and exploding stars.Lazuli (The Space Telescope): An orbital observer with a mirror slightly larger than Hubble’s. Argus Array (The “Time Machine”): A ground-based system in Texas consisting of 1,200 small telescopes. Deep Synoptic Array (D.S.A.): A massive radio survey in Nevada utilising 1,650 radio dishes.LFAST: A ground-based optical array designed to measure the spectra (colours) of distant stars and planets, helping scientists identify the chemical makeup of atmospheres in other solar systems.“We think that we should operate these experiments for defined useful lifetimes and then move on to the next exciting thing,” Dr. Roy was quoted as saying.According to the foundation, the Lazuli mirror was downsized because of the “malleable” schedule of Elon Musk’s Starship.“Starship schedules are malleable. We will revisit that in the future,” said Stuart Feldman, president of Schmidt Sciences.
