Donald Savage

Headquarters, Washington, DC November 28, 2000

(Phone: 202/358-1547)

RELEASE: 00-178

SCIENCE TEAM CHOSEN FOR SPACE INTERFEROMETRY MISSION

NASA has selected a science team for the Space Interferometry

Mission (SIM), an innovative space system that will hunt for Earth-
sized planets around other stars and provide new insights into the
origin and evolution of our Galaxy.

The mission, scheduled for launch in 2009, will also precisely

measure the locations and distances of stars throughout our Milky
Way Galaxy, and study other celestial objects.

SIM is part of NASA's Origins Program, a series of missions that

will help us answer two fundamental questions: How did we get
here? Are we alone? The newly selected team consists of 10
Principal Investigators, leading key science teams, and five
mission specialists.

* Discovery of Planetary Systems

Geoffrey W. Marcy, University of California, Berkeley
A search for new planets around nearby stars, which also will study
the stars where we currently think planets have been found.

* Extrasolar Planets Interferometric Survey

Michael Shao, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA
A search for planets using a large sample of stars. This study
addresses one of SIM's primary science goals of taking a census of
planetary systems around nearby stars.

* The Search for Young Planetary Systems and the Evolution of

Young Stars
Charles A. Beichman, JPL
A study of the early stages of the formation of planetary systems
around young stars which will provide new insight into how planets
like the Earth might have formed.

* Stellar, Remnant, Planetary, and Dark-Object Masses from

Astrometric Microlensing
Andrew P. Gould, Ohio State University
A novel technique of micro-lensing will be used to make
exceptionally precise measurements of the masses of stars and a
variety of other sources.

* Space Interferometry Mission: Dynamical Observations of Galaxies

Key Project
Edward J. Shaya, Raytheon ITSS Corporation
By determining the precise distances and motion of nearby galaxies,
this scientific program will study the formation of the local group
of galaxies.

* Astrophysics of Reference Frame Tie Objects

Kenneth J. Johnston, U.S. Naval Observatory
This program will obtain the data required to determine the motion
of the Galaxy relative to extremely distant extra-galactic sources.

* Anchoring the Population II Distances and Ages of Globular

Clusters
Brian C. Chaboyer, Dartmouth College
This program will make observations to determine the ages and
distances of globular cluster which are needed to determine the age
of the Universe.

* A MASSIF effort to determine the Mass-Luminosity relation for

Star of Various Ages, Metallicities and Evolutionary States
Todd J. Henry, Georgia State University
Determine to an accuracy of 1per cent the mass of 100 main sequence
stars and a special sample of 100 additional field stars. The
improved mass-luminosity relation derived from this work would
impact many fields of astrophysics and could be one of the major
accomplishments of the SIM mission.

* Taking the Measure of the Milky Way

Steven R. Majewski, University of Virginia
A study of the motion of stars in our Galaxy in order to determine
the forces that cause the motion and hence to understand better the
distribution of matter in the Milky Way.

* Binary Black Holes, Accretion Disks and Relativistic Jets:

Photocenters of Nearby AGN and Quasars
Ann E. Wehrle, JPL
A study of possible motions and changes in active galactic nucleii
and quasars. The data will provide new and unique insight into the
physical processes in these sources.

The Mission Scientists selected for the SIM Science Team are:
* Education and Public Outreach Scientist:
Guy P. Worthey, St Ambrose College.

* Data Scientist:
Andreas Quirrenbach, University of California, San Diego

* Instrument Scientist:
Stuart Shaklan, JPL

* Interdisciplinary Scientist:
Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology

* Imaging and Nulling Scientist:

Ronald J. Allen, Space Telescope Science Institute

SIM will be placed into an Earth-trailing orbit around the Sun.

Light gathered by its multiple telescopes will be combined and
processed to yield information that could normally be obtained only
with a much larger telescope. SIM will also search for planets
beyond our solar system. A critical part of the SIM mission will be
to identify potential observing targets for the Terrestrial Planet
Finder, which will image planetary systems around other stars and
look for chemical signatures that indicate a planet could sustain
life.

JPL, a division of Caltech, Pasadena, CA, manages SIM for NASA's

Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

Additional information on the Space Interferometry Mission is

available at:

http://sim.jpl.nasa.gov

Additional information on the Origins program is available at:

http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov

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