The instrument team built and tested SPIRE at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. However, there was a much larger science team, consisting of about 100 people from the astronomical community, who determined precisely how the instrument time was used. As reward for investing their time, astronomers on the science team had guaranteed observation time on SPIRE at their disposal for their own research. In return for its contributions to the project, Canada filled five positions on the science team. Astronomers from across the country participate in the SPIRE science team with very different scientific questions in mind.
John Lindner and Locke Spencer, two graduate students at the
University of Lethbridge, discuss their roles in contributing
to the development of the SPIRE spectrometer. Click here
to watch.
Peter Davis-Imhof and Trevor Fulton explain how Canada helps
to prepare the SPIRE instrument for launch. Click here
to watch.
