The Next-Generation Infrared Astronomy Mission

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SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) is a joint space mission of Japan and Europe, (which will be) launched in the late 2020s. The purpose of this mission is to elucidate "the process that enriched the universe with metal and dust and led to the formation of habitable worlds" by observing "metal and dust enrichment through galaxy evolution" and "planetary system formation of habitable systems".

SPICA is equipped with a 2.5 m telescope, which is cryogenically cooled down to below 8 K (-265 ℃) as well as with highly sensitive infrared instruments, SMI (SPICA Mid-infrared Instrument), SAFARI (SpicA FAR-infrared Instrument), and B-BOP (Magnetic field explorer with BOlometric Polarimeter). SPICA will be thrown into an orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system, which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth, and the best place to make the infrared telescope and instruments cool enough so as to achieve very high sensitivity.

• Oct. 15, 2020

  ISAS Press Release
  "SPICA no longer candidate for ESA's M5 mission selection"

• Sep. 23, 2020

  SMI factsheet was updated. For details, please see SPICA Instruments overview for Researchers.

• Mar. 06, 2020

  An article about SPICA was published on ISAS News (Feb. 2020, No. 467). Please see ISAS News (PDF ver.).

• Nov. 18, 2019

  ISAS oepn day was held on Nov. 01, 2019. Please see Pickup News.

• Nov. 18, 2019

  SPICA collaboration meeting was held in Paris. Please see Pickup News.

• Oct. 24, 2019

  SPICA special session will be held in ASJ Annual Meeting at Tsukuba University (Mar. 16-19, 2020).
  -- Invited speakers: Takuma Izumi (NAOJ), Hidehiro Kaneda (Nagoya University), Teruyuki Hirano (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
  -- Deadline for presentation application: Nov. 13, 2019, at noon
  See [tennet 17994] for details.

• May 20-23, 2019

  SPICA Science Meeting "SPICA 2019" was held at Crete Island in Greece. For details, please see Pickup News.

• May 16, 2019

  SMI factsheet was updated. For details, please see SPICA Instruments overview for Researchers.

• April 2 - 4, 2019

  The SPICA Collaboration Meeting was held at SRON in Groningen. For detail, please see "Pickup News".

• October 4, 2018

  The SPICA/SMI Kickoff Meeting was held at Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), Academia Sinica on October 4, 2018. » Read more

  More information on "The SPICA/SMI Kickoff Meeting"

• September 24 – 26, 2018

  The SPICA/SAFARI consortium meeting was held in Madrid, Spain. For detail, please see "Pickup News".

• June 15 – July 11, 2018

  The ESA CDF (Concurrent Design Facility) Study was held at the ESTEC in the Netherlands for about a month from June 15 to July 11.

  More information on "The ESA CDF (Concurrent Design Facility) Study"

• May 30 – June 1, 2018

  The SPICA/SAFARI Consortium Meeting was held in Groningen, The Netherlands, on May 30 - June 1, 2017.

  More information on "The SPICA/SAFARI consortium meeting"

• May 9, 2018

  On May 9, 2018, there is a press release "SPICA CV M5 press release (in Japanese)" by SPICA Japan Team. It is translated in English below.
  "SPICA selected as an ESA Cosmic Vision M5 candidate" » Read more
  
  A press release by SRON, which was repeased on May 7 in 2018, also can be found below.
  "Space telescope SPICA to final selection round (in Dutch and English)" » Read more

• May 7, 2018

  SPICA is a mission concept proposed in response to the ESA call for medium-size mission (M5) within the Cosmic Vision Programme. The SPICA was selected by ESA, as one of three candidates, on May 7, 2018.
  "ESA SELECTS THREE NEW MISSION CONCEPTS FOR STUDY" » Read more

• May 4, 2018

  On May 4, 2018, SPICA/SMI (SPICA Mid-Infrared Instrument) Homepage is opened.

• April 2, 2018

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

• January 22, 2018

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

• November 24, 2017

  SPICA/SAFARI Team visited ISAS/JAXA, Japan, on November 24, 2017.

• November 22, 2017

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

  More information on "SPICA Science Conference 2017"