The Search for Dark Energy

Allyn Smith

The dark energy content of the universe is rapidly becoming the subject of intense investigation. This area of research is high on the priority list for the U.S. Department of Energy to support in the next several years. In this presentation, we will briefly examine the composition of the universe and how dark energy fits into this picture. We will discuss some of the efforts currently being planned to investigate the dark energy content, and we will look in detail at one of the planned probes to search for dark energy, the SuperNova / Acceleration Probe. This discussion will include an overview of the spacecraft and mission and the calibration requirement (nightmare) to unravel this mysterious component of the universe.