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Exploring The Dark Sector with Euclid and WFIRST-AFTA

Abstract: Dark energy, the name given to the cause of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, is one of the most profound mysteries in modern science. Current cosmological models hold that dark energy is currently the dominant component of the Universe, but the exact nature of dark energy remains poorly understood. NASA is providing mission-enabling technology to the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) Euclid mission is also developing the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Asset (WFIRST-AFTA) mission for possible launch in ˜2023. WFIRST was the highest ranked space mission in the Astro2010 Decadal Survey and the AFTA incarnation of the WFIRST design uses a 2.4m space telescope to go beyond what the Decadal Survey envisioned for WFIRST. I’ll discuss the status of Euclid and WFIRST and describe the instruments in development for both missions.
Speaker: Jason Rhodes - JPL, NASA and Caltech
Speaker Bio: Dr. Jason Rhodes is a cosmologist at NASA’s JPL. He is the US science lead for ESA’s Euclid mission and a member of the WFIRST-AFTA Science Definition Team. His science focus is the use of weak gravitational lensing as a probe of dark matter and dark energy.
Poster Link: Poster
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