Progress toward BLISS, the background-limited infrared-submillimeter spectrograph for SPICA

Abstract

We are developing the Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectrograph (BLISS) for SPICA to provide a breakthrough capability for far-IR survey spectroscopy. The 3.2-meter, actively-cooled (T<6K) SPICA telescope allows mid-IR to submm observations which are limited only by the natural backgrounds, and BLISS is designed to operate near this fundamental limit. BLISS-SPICA provide a line sensitivity of 10-20 W m-2 , thereby enabling spectroscopy of dust-obscured galaxies at all epochs back to the first billion years after the Big Bang (redshift 6), and study of all stages of planet formation in circumstellar disks. BLISS covers the 35-430 micron waveband at moderate resolving power (300

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