The Edison Infrared Space-Observatory And The Universe At High Redshifts

Edison is a radiatively-cooled, long-lived, large-aperture space observatory optimized for operation in the near- and mid-infrared. Our current design is for a ∼2.5m telescope launched as an American-European collaboration in the NASA Explorer program. The telescope equilibrates at about 40 – 60 K, depending upon location and structure, which means that the system is celestial background-limited at all wavelengths shortward of about 30 μm. Under these circumstances, the sensitivity of a telescope system depends strongly on aperture size, making Edison by far the most powerful observatory proposed for operation at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. Here we describe part of our scientific program to study the universe at high redshifts.