Cosmic Explorer Project Funding  

 

"Launching the Cosmic Explorer Conceptual Design".. This award will establish a Cosmic Explorer Project Office, including systems engineering and management structures. This team will develop the initial Project Execution Plan and the initial Design and Development Plan for Cosmic Explorer. The team will also coordinate related activities funded under different awards and ultimately deliver the science traceability matrix, the initial facility infrastructure concept, and the initial detector reference design for Cosmic Explorer. (NSF Award 2309064)

 

"Collaborative Research: Identifying and Evaluating Sites for Cosmic Explorer." This award supports the identification and evaluation of the most promising locations for CE observatories while developing protocols and best practices for large-scale projects to be in partnership with local and Indigenous communities. (NSF Awards 2308985, 2308986, 2308987, 2308988, 2308989, 2308990)


"Cosmic Explorer Optical Design." This award will build on the Cosmic Explorer Horizon Study results to deliver parametric conceptual designs for the CE interferometers, iterate these with the CE Science-Driven Design Team, and propagate requirements for other detector systems via the CE Systems Team. (NSF awards 2309265, 2309266, 2309267, 2309268)

 

"Enabling Megawatt Optical Power in Cosmic Explorer." The objective of this award is to enable laser interferometry at the megawatt scale, by developing the initial design of a Mode Sensing and Control system for Cosmic Explorer capable of overcoming the thermal lensing degradations that limit current detectors. (NSF Awards  2309006 and 2309007)

 

"Local Gravity Disturbances and Next-Generation Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics." This award will enable the development of protocols for assessing the amount of Newtonian Noise that may be present at candidate CE locations and establish what mitigation techniques will be employed, for both seismic and acoustic contributions to NN once a site is established. Prototypes of highly sensitive acoustic sensors capable of measuring in the 5--20 Hz range, designs for an acoustic sensor array for acoustic cancellation, and prototype isolation mitigation techniques will be pursued. (recommended for funding)

 

"Cosmic Explorer: Research and Conceptual Designs for Scattered-Light Mitigation." This award will enable a team of scientists and engineers to analyze sources of noise associated with stray light, especially in the interferometer arm cavities. We will produce an initial conceptual design for the beam tube baffles. Mitigation of scattered light in the beam tubes is a high-priority research topic, as it directly impacts the facility design and cost. Other deliverables include requirements for mirror surface roughness and exploration of low-scatter vacuum materials. (recommended for funding)