Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Tübingen June 28, 2006WSO/UV Implementation Committee Meeting Moscow 1 WSO/UV: Situation in Germany DLR’s funding policy for HIRDES in the past: Step-by-step commitment of funds based on overall progress of Spectrum-UV / WSO project Positive results of WSO assessment studies performed by ESA and JPL/NASA → Funding of HIRDES Phase-A study, completed in Kick-off of Russian-led WSO Phase-A study → Funding of HIRDES Phase-B1 study, completed in 2006 What are the prospects for future funding?

Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Tübingen June 28, 2006WSO/UV Implementation Committee Meeting Moscow 2 WSO/UV: Situation in Germany Status of the WSO project as seen with critical eyes of DLR Positive: WSO becomes part of Russian Federal Space Program in Oct Good results of HIRDES Phase-A and –B1 studies Good German-Russian cooperation already in early phase of project Negative: Phase-A study of WSO is not completely finished There is no commitment by any space agency other than DLR for funding of studies for WSO instrumentation. Instrument phase-A/B studies by any other partner have neither been approved, begun, or completed → DLR asks: why proceed further with HIRDES beyond B1?

Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Tübingen June 28, 2006WSO/UV Implementation Committee Meeting Moscow 3 WSO/UV: Situation in Germany Status of the WSO project as seen with critical eyes from DLR Negative (contd.): ESA/AWG evaluation of Spanish proposal for Nationally Led Project makes negative statements: “Topics [of science case] are limited and do not represent substantial advances with respect to current knowledge” → hopefully we convinced DLR that science case is strong “Although the main instrument (HIRDES) appears to be in an advanced stage, the AWG is concerned about the overall maturity of the scientific payload.” → Praise for HIRDES, nice, but discouraging DLR to continue funding.

Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Tübingen June 28, 2006WSO/UV Implementation Committee Meeting Moscow 4 WSO/UV: Situation in Germany Does eROSITA (on Spectrum-RG) compete with HIRDES for DLR funds? Not clear, maybe eROSITA is financed by DLR extra funds. In any case: The approval of eROSITA does not imply the stop for further HIRDES funding. Before continuing with proposal for B2-phase for HIRDES, studies of WSO project and all instruments should be brought to a similar level. In the meantime, IAAT will make proposal for technical developments (detector electronics, optical bench material) to DLR this year.