Bengaluru-born astronomer Dr. Ramya Anche will head NASA’s $20 million PUFFINS space telescope mission. Targeted for a 2030 launch, the project uses a 10-inch telescope to study cosmic dust. Dr. Anche said, "PUFFINS will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars: particles roughly the size of a common cold virus."

PUFFINS mission will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars: particles roughly the size of a common cold virus

A Bengaluru-born astronomer will be heading the $20 million NASA space telescope mission PUFFINS (Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust).

Dr. Ramya Anche, an assistant research professor at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, has been selected as the Principal Investigator of the PUFFINS mission. PUFFINS is a SmallSat selected under NASA's highly competitive Astrophysics Pioneers programme.

It is targeted for a 2030 launch and during the mission a 10-inch telescope will observe ultraviolet light from about 70 distant stars to decode a 50-year-old mystery regarding how cosmic dust builds new stars and planets.

Studying grains of dust

"PUFFINS will study the smallest grains of dust between the stars: particles roughly the size of a common cold virus. These grains are invisible to most telescopes, yet they play a critical role in how starlight travels through the galaxy, and ultimately in our understanding of how new stars and planets form," Dr. Anche told The Hindu.

She added that PUFFINS will observe them using UV spectropolarimetry, a technique that has not been attempted from space in 30 years.

"The data it returns will fill a long-standing gap in our understanding of interstellar dust and by extension, the structure, and evolution of the universe," she added.

The PUFFINS team comprises roughly 40 people which includes scientists, engineers, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Joint effort

It is a joint effort between the University of Arizona, McDonald Observatory, and a network of early-career and senior scientists from various universities across the world including two from India: the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru.

Dr. Anche, who grew up in Devanahalli, near Bengaluru, completed her education in various institutions in the city before joining IIA in 2012. She said the selection for the mission was done through a competitive process.

Selection process

Teams of scientists and engineers submit full mission proposals through NASA's ROSES (Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science) solicitation, covering everything from scientific objectives to instrument design and mission architecture.

"Our proposal was selected under the Astrophysics Pioneers programme, which is specifically designed for early-career scientists leading a NASA mission for the first time. Notably, when I submitted the proposal last year, I was still a postdoctoral fellow, not yet a faculty member. The selection came with $20 million in funding to design, build and launch the telescope by 2030," she said.