Spring PRIMA update

by Locke Spencer, Doug Johnstone, David Naylor

Canadian participation in a far-infrared space astronomy mission is one of the key recommendations in both the CASCA LRP and CSA CSEW reports. The importance of Canadian involvement in the next NASA Probe (PRIMA or AXIS) was reconfirmed in the LRP MTR and the JCSA further recommended that the CSA provide statements of support for both missions in late 2025. In recognition of the importance of Canadian involvement, Locke Spencer has been named Canadian co-investigator to the PRIMA Mission within the PRIMA Concept Study Report submitted to NASA.

Over the last year PRIMA has produced a great deal of material on the science potential of the mission. November 2025 saw the release of the  PRIMA General Observer (GO) Science book volume 2 by the PRIMA science team, containing 120 unique GO science cases for the PRIMA mission. This is a follow-up to the volume 1 PRIMA GO release containing 76 cases. There was also a dedicated PRIMA issue of JATIS published in late 2025 with 38 papers, including a PRIMA Mission Concept Overview (Glenn et al. 2025). There are many Canadian connections and collaborations within the released GO books, and interested CASCA members can find additional details at the PRIMA webpage, by checking out upcoming and archived virtual sessions from the monthly PRIMA talk series, and by joining the Canadian Far-Infrared Space Astronomy mailing list.

Following the US government shutdown in late 2025, the NASA 2023 Astrophysics Probe AO Concept Study Report deadline for the two remaining Probe missions was extended to Jan. 29, 2026 in consultation with both project teams. The  AXIS and PRIMA teams both submitted their respective reports on time. Recently, NASA announced that the AXIS concept study was non-compliant and it was no longer eligible for launch consideration in this AO. The PRIMA Concept Study Report was deemed compliant and this leaves PRIMA as the sole remaining mission under consideration. The PRIMA team is preparing for a NASA evaluation panel site visit in May 2026.

Bespoke Canadian hardware has been part of the PRIMA probe instrumentation since its conception. On 3 October 2024 NASA selected the PRIMA mission as the far-infrared probe candidate and with it the Canadian Fourier Transform Spectrometer Mechanism (FTSM) as the critical component of the FIRESS high resolution spectrometer (see Buchan et al. 2025 . The FTSM is a signature Canadian technology which has been supported by the CSA for over a decade. NASA has requested that Canada provides the FTSM; the scientific return on this investment to Canadian astronomers will be at least twice that of Herschel. In addition to the provision of Canadian hardware for the FIRESS instrument, there has been discussion between the  PRIMA team and ABB/Bluesky Spectroscopy and ULethbridge Astronomical Instrumentation Group (AIG) regarding the next phase of hardware testing. Locke Spencer will be participating in the NASA review panel site visit as part of the PRIMA team.

We ask for the strongest support for PRIMA from the Canadian Astronomy community and from the CSA to realize this unique opportunity. Please reach out if you would like to be more involved, join the mailing list to receive updates, and look for more information on PRIMA at CASCA 2026.