In the context of the five review elements, please
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal with respect to intellectual merit.
The intellectual merit is based on the science cases that SPRITE will
provide through wide field astrometry by delivering NIR observations
with a precision of 10 microarcseconds. This will open up a wide range
of science cases related to dark matter distributions in the Galaxy and
potentially detect earth-like planets in the HZ.
The proposal is not original or transformative, but it does provide the
necessary groundwork for developing the SPRITE proposal through cold
weather and ruggedizing the equipment needed for work at the South Pole.
The team and the institute have a proven track record of successfully
deploying and using instrumentation systems. They are also well aware of
the extreme technical challenges and systematic effects in astrometry
that can prevent the science goal being obtained. They also have a
strong and very successful track record of mentoring and training
students for education.
In the context of the five review elements, please
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal with respect to broader impacts.
In the context of this proposal, the broader impacts are that the
investigation will provide ruggedization technologies and methods that
can be applied to other Antarctic instruments. It also provides the
technological demostrators needed for the SPRITE project in a few years
time.
The greatest weakness is that the required astrometric
precision required to enable the science cases has not been demonstrated
yet. The team have had experience in carrying out AO assisted
observations and have achieved relative 70 microarcsecond astrometry,
but that is over a relatively short time, and some of the science cases
require long integrations of several hours to reach the required
precision.
The SPRITE project is also dependent on GAIA to provide a large grid of
astrometric standards to enable their core science.
Please evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of the proposal with respect to any additional solicitation-specific review criteria, if
applicable
Summary Statement
This project is a request for feasibility activities only, and as such
does not deliver a final science product. The group are extremely well
qualified for the propsed activities, and the SPRITE concept is very
interesting, but although the proposers have demonstrated a clear and
deep understanding of the issues involved in astrometry, they have not
discussed any contingencies to their project if the required astrometric
precision is not met.