AAS 247 Winter Meeting

Session Title
The PRobe Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) Mission Concept Special Session

Summary
PRIMA (PRobe Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) is a far-infrared probe mission concept in Phase A for NASA’s call for Astrophysics Explorers (APEX). PRIMA’s cryogenic design and highly sensitive detectors enable unprecedented far-infrared science. PRIMA’s PI science focuses on the astrochemical signatures of planet formation, the co-evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes across cosmic time, and measuring the formation and buildup of galaxies, heavy elements, and interstellar dust from cosmic noon to today.

With at least 75% of its observing time available for General Observer (GO) science, PRIMA will be a community mission and is designed to address a wide range of astrophysics. In this special session, we invite the astronomical community to come learn about this mission concept, share their ideas for GO programs, and help make this mission their own. The special session will feature two talks from PRIMA team members describing an overview of PRIMA, its science goals and capabilities. The majority of the session will be devoted to talks highlighting community-led GO science cases for volume 2 of our GO book (120 total submissions, with ~430 unique authors from 34 countries). We will have 4-6 community GO science talks. We hope to welcome posters from all members of the community and aim to have the poster session be a time for community engagement and conversation.