SAGACE is a cosmology and astrophysics mission developed in response to a call for small missions of the Italian Space Agency. SAGACE will be able to study the evolution of structures in the universe using different observables, all of them available at mm/sub-mm wavelengths.
SAGACE will provide spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of galaxy clusters with exquisite precision and accuracy, so that these measurements will provide precise information on the evolution of structures in the universe (and on its main constituents, i.e. Dark Matter, Dark Energy and diffuse baryons).
In addition, SAGACE will detect and locate early galaxies through their ionized carbon line, in a redshift interval difficult to cover with optical spectroscopy. This will provide a key information to understand the evolution of galaxies and their stellar production.
Finally, SAGACE will produce large-area surveys (total ~ 2·103 deg2) of different classes of active galaxies, providing crucial insight on the evolution of these populations and on the physical mechanisms at work therein.
The phase-A study for SAGACE has been funded by ASI and carried out by the collaboration of an industrial prime contractor (Kayser Italia) and a team of scientists coming from Italian Universities and from the INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica).
The Principal Investigator is prof. Paolo de Bernardis at the Physics Department of the University of Rome La Sapienza.