The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

This paper describes the design of the space IR telescope Facility (SIRTF) as the project enters the detailed design phase. SIRTF is the fourth of NASA's Great Observatories, and is scheduled for launch in December 2001. SIRTF provides background limited imaging and spectroscopy covering the spectral range from 3 to 180 micrometers , complementing the capabilities of the other great observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. SIRTF will be the first mission to combine the high sensitivity achievable forma cryogenic space telescope with the imaging and spectroscopic power of the new generation of IR detector arrays. The scientific capabilities of this combination are so great that SIRTF was designated the highest priority major mission for all of US astronomy in the 1990s.