The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Astrophysics Division (APD) funds the development of cutting-edge technologies through multiple programs to enable its strategic missions to achieve ambitious and groundbreaking science goals. These technology development efforts are managed by the Cosmic Origins (COR), Exoplanet Exploration (ExE), and Physics of the Cosmos (PhysCOS) programs. The 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, "Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s" [1] (Astro2020), recommended a pan-chromatic set of missions, including three Great Observatories (GOs) and three Probe-class missions that could collect unprecedented data over the coming decades. We show the correlation between these strategic missions and the current astrophysics technology gaps, as well as recent and current technology maturation projects funded to help close these technology gaps. We also cover how these investments advanced their Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) [2] and where they have been infused into missions and projects.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) develops a broad range of technologies to support space-based quantum sensing and communications, uses the space environment to study fundamental quantum processes to advance our knowledge of physics, and develops algorithms to attack complex science problems that might be solved using quantum computing. This paper describes quantum sensors that NASA has flown on space missions, investments that NASA is making to develop quantum sensors, and possible approaches to employ quantum sensing to study the attributes of distant stars and planets, the Sun, Earth, and fundamental properties of matter.

We present the experiences acquired in the last decade by analyzing and evaluating the impact of more than 800 technology grants for technology developments awarded by the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. These studies have demonstrated a healthy infusion rate of these funded technologies and provided insights into the lifecycle of technology development components, and systems, which remain over a decade and in some cases up to two decades.

Technology development enables space flight missions. This paper reviews lessons learned for how to formulate and implement an intentional technology development process. We describe four elements of this disciplined approach. First, start with Science Driven Systems Engineering. Define the Level 0 science requirements and derive a science traceability matrix for required measurements. Technology innovation and maturation does not happen in a vacuum. It is tied to the fulfillment of well-articulated science goals. Second, study, analyze and develop multiple notional mission concepts to identify and prioritize technology gaps. Third, invest in the maturation of mid-TRL technologies. And fourth, consistent oversight of the efficacy of those investments. Technology grants, cooperative agreements and contracts need to have active and close management and reporting of their progress, milestones, TRL advancements and final outcomes, to meet the goal of promoting and increasing the technology infusion rates in future space flight missions. The cumulative value of lessons learned from flight projects and expertise gained in the last decade enables more effective ways to promote advances via an intentional technology maturation model, a significant variation of the classical pull technology model.

NASA has launched a long and storied series of ambitious strategic astrophysics missions, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope, with the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope set to join their ranks in producing incomparable science results. Continuing such a record of success requires ever-more-advanced technologies, as the science requirements of each new mission are more challenging than those of its predecessors. Maturing technologies across the mid-range of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), from 3 to 6, the so-called "Mid-TRL gap," is crucial to developing indispensable components for such missions, a fact that was historically not appreciated. Recognizing this gap, in 2009, NASA's Astrophysics Division established the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program. In the decade plus since, the SAT program, along with direct funding of certain technology-development efforts, has provided a wide array of benefits including significant milestones, such as TRL maturation, infusion of technologies into projects and missions, training the astrophysics workforce, and many more. The technology development and maturation projects funded by NASA Astrophysics are managed by the Cosmic Origins, Exoplanet Exploration, and Physics of the Cosmos Programs (COR, ExEP, and PCOS, respectively). Since 2009, over 140 projects have been funded on over 80 technology topics, with dozens advancing their TRL, and over 2/3 leading to technology infusions. We present the portfolio distribution in terms of specific technology areas addressed including optics, detectors, coatings, coronagraphs, starshade, lasers, electronics, cooling, etc. We show an analysis of the rate of TRL advances, infusion, and other benefits. Finally, we present Astrophysics Division's strategic technology investment priorities following the recent release of the Decadal Survey, "Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s" (Astro2020).

NASA's Astrophysics Division (APD) funds development of cutting-edge technology to enable its missions to achieve ambitious and groundbreaking science goals. These technology development efforts are managed by the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS), Cosmic Origins (COR), and Exoplanet Exploration (ExE) Programs. The NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program was established in 2009 as a new technology maturation program to fill the gap in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range from 3 to 6. Since program inception, 100 SAT grants have been openly competed and awarded, along with dozens of direct-funded projects, leading to a host of technologies advancing their TRLs and/or being infused into space and suborbital missions and ground-based projects. We present the portfolio distribution in terms of specific technology areas addressed, including optics, detectors, coatings, coronagraphs, starshades, lasers, electronics, cooling systems, and micro-thruster subsystems. We show an analysis of the rate of TRL advances, infusion success stories, and other benefits such as training the future astrophysics workforce, including students and postdoctoral fellows hired by projects. Finally, we present APD's current strategic technology maturation priorities for investment, enabling a range of future strategic astrophysics missions.

Over the next decade, NASA’s Astrophysics Division expects to undertake robotic or unmanned space flight missions that will explore the nature of the universe at its largest scales, its earliest moments, and its most extreme conditions. Current innovative and maturation technology programs are being conducted by NASA’s Astrophysics Division to fill the technology gaps identified by the community. One of these efforts was to establish the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) program to support the maturation of key technologies. In this paper, these technology programs are described; in particular the SAT program will be presented describing the process to establish priorities, the technology management components, and the efforts to move these technologies into mission concepts and flight missions. The technology roadmap for a large mission concept such as ATLAST is presented as an example of the technology gaps derived and identified from these analyses, which could focus future efforts and investment priorities. Finally, the NASA preparation for the next decade, which will study and mature four large mission concepts, is briefly outlined.

In preparation of the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has commenced a process for the astronomical community to study several large mission concepts leveraging the lessons learned from past Decadal Surveys. This will enable the Decadal Survey committee to make more informed recommendations to NASA on its astrophysics science and mission priorities with respect to cost and risk. Four astrophysics large mission concepts were identified. Each of them had a Science and Technology Definition Teem (STDT) chartered to produce scientifically compelling, feasible, and executable design reference mission (DRM) concepts to present to the 2020 Decadal Survey. In addition, The Aerospace Corporation will perform an independent cost and technical evaluation (CATE) of each of these mission concept studies in advance of the 2020 Decadal Survey, by interacting with the STDTs to provide detailed technical details on certain areas for which “deep dives” are appropriate. This paper presents the status and path forward for one of the four large mission concepts, namely, the Large UltraViolet, Optical, InfraRed surveyor (LUVOIR).

We describe the 2016 update of the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) investment strategy in the area of lidar technologies as pertaining to NASA's Earth Science measurement goals in the next decade.

The Second Workshop on Extreme Precision Radial Velocities defined circa 2015 the state of the art Doppler precision and identified the critical path challenges for reaching 10 cm/s measurement precision. The presentations and discussion of key issues for instrumentation and data analysis and the workshop recommendations for achieving this precision are summarized here. Beginning with the HARPS spectrograph, technological advances for precision radial velocity measurements have focused on building extremely stable instruments. To reach still higher precision, future spectrometers will need to produce even higher fidelity spectra. This should be possible with improved environmental control, greater stability in the illumination of the spectrometer optics, better detectors, more precise wavelength calibration, and broader bandwidth spectra. Key data analysis challenges for the precision radial velocity community include distinguishing center of mass Keplerian motion from photospheric velocities, and the proper treatment of telluric contamination. Success here is coupled to the instrument design, but also requires the implementation of robust statistical and modeling techniques. Center of mass velocities produce Doppler shifts that affect every line identically, while photospheric velocities produce line profile asymmetries with wavelength and temporal dependencies that are different from Keplerian signals. Exoplanets are an important subfield of astronomy and there has been an impressive rate of discovery over the past two decades. Higher precision radial velocity measurements are required to serve as a discovery technique for potentially habitable worlds and to characterize detections from transit missions. The future of exoplanet science has very different trajectories depending on the precision that can ultimately be achieved with Doppler measurements.

Specialized manpower required to efficiently operate world-class observatories requires large investments in time and resources to train personnel in very specific areas of engineering. Isolation and distances to mayor cities pose a challenge to retain motivated and qualified personnel on the mountain. This paper presents strategies that we believe may be effective for retaining this specific know-how in the astronomy field; while at the same time develop a local support industry for observatory operations and astronomical instrumentation development. For this study we choose Chile as a research setting because it will host more than 60% of the world's ground based astronomical infrastructure by the end of the decade, and because the country has an underdeveloped industry for astronomy services. We identify the astronomical infrastructure that exists in the country as well as the major research groups and industrial players. We further identify the needs of observatories that could be outsourced to the local economy. As a result, we suggest spin-off opportunities that can be started by former observatory employees and therefore retaining the know-how of experienced people that decide to leave on-site jobs. We also identify tools to facilitate this process such as the creation of a centralized repository of local capabilities and observatory needs, as well as exchange programs within astronomical instrumentation groups. We believe that these strategies will contribute to a positive work environment at the observatories, reduce the operation and development costs, and develop a new industry for the host country.

Following several recommendations presented by the Astrophysics Decadal Survey 2010 centered around the need to define “a future ultraviolet-optical space capability”, on 2012 May 25, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking persuasive ultraviolet (UV) and visible wavelength astrophysics science investigations. The goal was to develop a cohesive and compelling set of science objectives that motivate and support the development of the next generation of ultraviolet/visible space astrophysics missions. Responses were due on 10 August 2012 when 34 submissions were received addressing a number of potential science drivers. A UV/visible Mission RFI Workshop was held on 2012 September 20 where each of these submissions was summarized and discussed in the context of each other. We present a scientific analysis of these submissions and presentations and the pursuant measurement capability needs, which could influence ultraviolet/visible technology development plans for the rest of this decade. We also describe the process and requirements leading to the inception of this community RFI, subsequent workshop and the expected evolution of these ideas and concepts for the remainder of this decade.

In 2009 the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters established the Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) solicitation as a new technology maturation program to fill the needed gap for mid-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) levels (3≤ TRL <6). In three full proposal selection cycles since the inception of this program, more than 40 investigations have been selected, many meritorious milestones have been met and advances have been achieved. In this paper, we review the process of establishing technology priorities, the management of technology advancements and milestones, and the incipient success of some of these investigations in light of the need of future space missions.

We analyze pulsar fluxes at 1400 MHz ($S_{1400}$) and distances ($d$) extracted from the Parkes Multibeam Survey. Under the assumption that distribution of pulsar luminosities is distance-independent, we find that either (a) pulsar fluxes diminish with distance according to a non-standard power law, due, we suggest, to the presence of a component with $S_{1400} \propto 1/d$, or (b) that there are very significant (i.e. order of magnitude) errors in the dispersion-measure method for estimating pulsar distances. The former conclusion (a) supports a model for pulsar emission that has also successfully explained the frequency spectrum of the Crab and 8 other pulsars over 16 orders of magnitude of frequency, whilst alternative (b) would necessitate a radical re-evaluation of both the dispersion-measure method and current ideas about the distribution of free electrons within our Galaxy.

Observational data imply the presence of superluminal electric currents in pulsar magnetospheres. Such sources are not inconsistent with special relativity; they have already been created in the laboratory. Here we describe the distinctive features of the radiation beam that is generated by a rotating superluminal source and show that (i) it consists of subbeams that are narrower the farther the observer is from the source: subbeams whose intensities decay as 1/R instead of 1/R^2 with distance (R), (ii) the fields of its subbeams are characterized by three concurrent polarization modes: two modes that are 'orthogonal' and a third mode whose position angle swings across the subbeam bridging those of the other two, (iii) its overall beam consists of an incoherent superposition of such coherent subbeams and has an intensity profile that reflects the azimuthal distribution of the contributing part of the source (the part of the source that approaches the observer with the speed of light and zero acceleration), (iv) its spectrum (the superluminal counterpart of synchrotron spectrum) is broader than that of any other known emission and entails oscillations whose spacings and amplitudes respectively increase and decrease algebraically with increasing frequency, and (v) the degree of its mean polarization and the fraction of its linear polarization both increase with frequency beyond the frequency for which the observer falls within the Fresnel zone. We also compare these features with those of the radiation received from the Crab pulsar.