A scientist who grew up in Devanahalli near Bengaluru has been selected to lead a $20 million NASA space telescope mission aimed at investigating one of astronomy’s enduring mysteries: how interstellar dust evolves and contributes to the formation of stars and planets.
Dr Ramya Anche, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, will serve as principal investigator of PUFFINS, short for Polarimetry in the Ultraviolet to Find Features in INterStellar dust. The mission has been selected under NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers programme, which supports early-career scientists taking the lead on space science missions.
The project is expected to receive $20 million to design, build and launch a small satellite carrying a telescope by 2030. Its observations are intended to improve scientists’ understanding of the tiny grains of matter drifting between stars and their role in the evolution of the universe.
Anche’s selection is notable because she was still a postdoctoral researcher when she submitted the mission proposal last year, before moving into her current faculty position.
“Our proposal was selected under the Astrophysics Pioneers programme, which is specifically designed for early-career scientists leading a NASA mission for the first time,” she said, explaining the competitive selection process.
Small telescope, ambitious scientific mission
PUFFINS will use a telescope approximately 10 inches across to study ultraviolet light from around 70 distant stars. By measuring the polarisation of this light, scientists hope to determine how interstellar dust grains are structured, how they evolve and how they influence the formation of stars and planets.
Interstellar dust may appear insignificant compared with stars and galaxies, but it plays an important role in the cosmic life cycle. Dust grains absorb and scatter starlight and provide material that can eventually become part of the dense clouds from which stars and planetary systems emerge.
The mission will employ ultraviolet spectropolarimetry, a technique that combines the study of light across ultraviolet wavelengths with measurements of its polarisation. The approach could help scientists investigate the physical properties of dust grains that remain difficult to establish through conventional observations.
The project is also significant because space-based ultraviolet polarimetry has not been attempted in nearly three decades, according to reports on the mission. PUFFINS is expected to fill a longstanding gap in observations of interstellar dust.
Indian institutions join international collaboration
The mission involves a team of approximately 40 scientists, engineers, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. The University of Arizona and McDonald Observatory are among the principal collaborators, alongside researchers from institutions across the world.
India will contribute through the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru.
Anche grew up in Devanahalli, near Bengaluru, and completed her education at institutions in the city before joining the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in 2012. Her career subsequently took her into international research, culminating in her selection to lead the NASA mission.
The Astrophysics Pioneers programme uses a competitive proposal process in which scientific teams submit detailed plans covering research objectives, instrument design and mission architecture. PUFFINS secured selection and funding through this process.
For Anche, the mission represents an opportunity to lead a major space-based investigation early in her academic career. For the wider research community, it offers a chance to revisit a challenging area of astrophysics with new observations.
If successful, PUFFINS could help explain how interstellar dust develops and how its properties influence the formation and evolution of planetary systems, while bringing researchers from India and the United States together on a mission designed to address fundamental questions about the universe.