The Next-Generation Infrared Astronomy Mission

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ISAS open day was held on Nov. 01, 2019.

SPICA collaboration meeting was held in Paris, at INSTN-Saclay, on Oct. 28-30, 2019.

SPICA science meeting "SPICA 2019" was held at Crete Island in Greece, between May 20 to 23, 2019. Theme of the meeting was entitled as "Exploring the Infrared Universe: The Promise of SPICA". The organizing committee who led by SPICA Science Study Team hosted over 160 scientists from across the glove. From Japanese SPICA community, more than 20 people joined the meeting and discuss a wide range of topics for SPICA observation strategies.

SPICA Conference 2019 "Exploring the Infrared Universe: The Promise of SPICA" http://www.spica2019.org/

"SPICA Collaboration Meeting" was launched as an expanded meeting from the former "SPICA/SAFARI consortium meeting" to broaden our discussions and activities with all the SPICA science and instrument communities. Nearly 100 members of science and engineerings joined the first meeting at SRON in Groningen, the Netherlands on April 2nd to 4th. From SPICA-J team, Yamada, Matsuhara, Kaneda and Doi attended the meeting.

To enhance future collaboration on SMI with Taiwanese communities, SPICA/SMI Kickoff Meeting was held at Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), Academia Sinica on October 4, 2018.

Workshop Homepage: https://events.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/workshop/20181004/

ASIAA plans to make a contribution mainly in evaluation of mid-infrared detectors. After a 5-year interval, renewed members on both sides got together to restart the collaboration: more than 30 participants ranging from graduate students to professors had active discussion on science and instrument technics all day long, especially on development of infrared array detectors, spectral surveys of dust in galaxies, velocity-resolved observations of proto-planetary disks, and observations of the magnetic field in star-forming regions. Also, a laboratory tour in ASIAA was arranged, which gave us a chance to have a firsthand look at the experimental facilities of infrared and radio astronomy there. The next meeting with the same aim will be held in Japan in 2019.

The SPICA/SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Madrid, at the Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA), on September 24 - 26, 2018.

Intensive assessment study on SPICA was carried out by the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) at ESTEC in the Netherlands for about a month from 15 June through 11 July. Soon after the first down selection for the ESA Cosmic vision M5, in which SPICA has advanced to the final round, the technical feasibility of the mission was examined, especially on the spacecraft configuration design. Working in cooperation with the ESA team of experts in different fields, visiting members from the SPICA Team, from Japan and Europe, constantly provided information of the mission and were actively involved in the discussions during the period. I firmly believe our participation made a significant contribution to the development of the CDF study. Based on the results of the study, a plan for the workshare and interface between ESA and JAXA will be determined, which will accelerate progress of the mission toward the Phase A. (Matsuhara)

The SPICA/SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Groningen, The Netherlands, on May 30 - June 1, 2018.

SPICA Advisory Board Meeting was held at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), on April 2, 2018.

SPICA team members visited Centre Spatiale de Liège (CSL) in Belgium on January 22th, 2018.

CSL is well known for its expertise in specialized optical/cryogenic test which has supported many European Space Agency (ESA) space programs. Since CSL is equipped with large cryogenic vacuum test chambers, it is one of the candidates of the facility in which SPICA payload module (PLM) cryogenic test is to be performed.

In this visit, we investigated the test chambers and facilities, and had a kick off meeting with CSL optical/cryogenic engineers to look into the possibility of SPICA cryogenic test at CSL. CSL engineers showed great interest in SPICA PLM cryogenic test, and said "We like it, since it is challenging!"

The right figure shows a scale model inside the test facility.

SPICA/SAFARI Team visited ISAS/JAXA, Japan, on November 24, 2017. We have received a wonderful Christmas gift of chocolate letters "SPICA".

· Visitors:
SPICA PI: Dr. Peter Roelfsema (SRON)
SAFARI POL manager: Dr. Louis Rodriguez (CEA)
Department Head of the Astrophysics Division: Dr. Anne Decourchelle (CEA)

SPICA Science Conference 2017 (SPICA 研究会) was held at ISAS/JAXA, Japan, on November 22, 2017.

The SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Rome, Italy, on September 20-21, 2017.

JAXA's SPICA Observation Advisory Board Meeting was held at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), on August 22, 2017.

In order to construct an assembly design of the scientific instrument accommodation on the optical bench, a dedicated team was organized, and a face-to-face meeting was held on 31st May - 1st June 2017 at CEA Sacray/SAp. The meeting was quite successful, concluding a few cases will be pursued further in terms of feasibility and various interfaces among instruments.

The 2nd SPICA/SMI Technology Meeting (SPICA/SMI国内技術会議・説明会) was held at ISAS/JAXA, Japan, on March 31, 2017.

The SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Heidelberg, Germany, on March 1 and 2, 2017. It was organized by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), located on top of the Königstuhl, about 6 km outside the center of Heidelberg.

· See more details on SRON web page: https://www.sron.nl/safari2017

JAXA's SPICA Science Advisory Board 2nd Meeting was held in Paris, France, on July 15, 2016.

"An important step forward for the SPICA mission." The start of the Phase A1 activity for SPICA was approved by ISAS on July 8, 2016.

JAXA's SPICA Science Advisory Board was held in Tokyo, Japan, on May 9 and 10, 2016.

· Board members:
Dr. David Elbaz (CEA, Saclay, France), chair (top right picture)
Dr. Yuri Aikawa (Tsukuba University, Japan)
Dr. Philippe Andre （CEA, Saclay, France）
Dr. Michael Barlow (University College London, UK)
Dr. Andrew Blain (University of Leicester, UK)
Dr. Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, Netherland)
Dr. Reinhard Genzel (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, University of California Berkeley, Germany)
Dr. George Helou (Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, USA)
Dr. Roberto Maiolino (Cavendish Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, UK)
Dr. Margaret Meixner (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA)
Dr. Tsutomu Takeuchi (Nagoya University, Japan)

On April 13 and 14, 2016, the SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Groningen, the Netherlands. It was organized by SRON, located in the "Kapteijnborg" building at the Zernike Campus in Groningen. The objective of Consortium Meetings is to bring together and consolidate the Consortium in all aspects, including Science and Progress of the project, with emphasis on preparing for M5 proposal.

· See more details on SRON web page: https://www.sron.nl/program

The SMI National Technology Meeting was held in Nagoya University, Japan, on March 29, 2016.

*SMI: SPICA Mid-Infrared Instrument

A special session titled "Astronomy with new SPICA" was held at Minami-Osawa Campus of Tokyo Metropolitan University on March 16, 2016, 3:40 - 5:20 p.m., in the annual spring meeting 2016 of the Astronomical Society of Japan. There were more than 250 of the participants who were highly interested in the SPICA mission. It ended in great success with great expectations.

The session started with a presentation on the overview of the current status of new SPICA after being approved in JAXA MDR (Mission Definition Review) by Prof. Hiroshi Shibai (Osaka University), the Principal Investigator (PI) and Chief of the SPICA project. Publicizing the new SPICA project, he also made a strong appeal to the audiences for their active and aggressive involvement at various stages in the SPICA project, which has been working toward the upcoming submission of a proposal of European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision M5. Next, Dr. Peter Roelfsema (Netherlands Institute for Space Research), the PI of SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument) and supervisor of the M5 proposal, explained scientific interests of European SPICA Team and their instruments. Then, Prof. Hidehiro Kaneda (Nagoya University), the PI of SMI (SPICA Mid-infrared Instrument) reported the current status of the Japanese instrument. He also asked the participants for active support for SPICA/SMI consortium.

Then followed two lectures on the key science topics, distant galaxies and protoplanetary disks, given respectively by Prof. Eiichi Egami (The University of Arizona) and Dr. Hideko Nomura (Tokyo Institute of Technology). Prof. Egami is a member of SPICA Science Task Forces and Dr. Nomura is a member of SPICA Science Task Forces for Group of Optical and Infrared Astronomers. They have led scientific discussions on SPICA between Japan and Europe.

Among the participants in the SPICA special session, some expressed their expectation for quantitative analyses of HD lines by SAFARI and SMI-HRS, and others made practical questions related to observations by SPICA such as a question about dynamic range of SAFARI and SMI. SPICA Team hopes the SPICA special session offered the participants a good opportunity to relate their scientific interests with SPICA and could be a trigger of their involvement with SPICA in the long term.

SPICA Special Session will be held at Minami-Osawa Campus of Tokyo Metropolitan University on March 16, 2016, in the annual spring meeting 2016 of the Astronomical Society of Japan.

· See more details on ASJ web page (in Japanese): http://www.asj.or.jp/jsession/2016haru/4_JS2016_program.pdf

On November 18, 2015, Dr. Saku Tsuneta, Director General of ISAS, JAXA, issued a letter for astronomical communities, reporting that SPICA, with the re-designed configuration, successfully passed its Mission Definition Review at ISAS, JAXA. In the letter, he also declared that ISAS has been ready to support international efforts to make SPICA happen.