The UA is poised to build and run the largest plane-mounted astronomical telescope in the world - should NASA get around to officially asking for it.

In conjunction with the German government, Hughes Aircraft and the Northrop-Grumann Corporation, the University of Arizona has prepared a proposal to meet NASA's call for an airborne observatory, said Harold Larson, professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"Every year NASA hopes to start one of its major long-range projects," Larson said. "This is astrophysics' only new start. Now NASA is doing other things, but in the field of astronomy, this is it, this is the one thing NASA could afford to start this year."

The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, would take over the role of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, which was retired last September after 21 years in operation.

The group proposes to mount a foreign-built telescope in a reconfigured 747 based out of the Tucson International Airport, Larson said.

At a diameter of 2.7 meters, the SOFIA mirror would be roughly three times larger than the Kuiper mirror, making it the largest flying telescope in the world.

The telescope will make observations from the infrared to submillimeter wavelengths - observations that cannot be made from earth-based observatories.

Larson, who has worked with airborne astronomy at the UA since 1969, will direct the observatory if NASA accepts the UA's proposal.

NASA plans to accept bids for the observatory before the end of the fiscal year, Larson said, but the agency has been unclear as to the exact date it will officially post its request for project proposals.

Marti Klug, with NASA's SOFIA administration, said the agency's management is reviewing the final draft of the request before releasing it.

"It's probably waiting for a signature or a rubber stamp or something," she said. "There's a lot in queue right now, but we expect it every day."

While the majority of the plane's missions would be flown in the desert skies of the Southwest, Larson said, it could fly elsewhere should a celestial object require a specific viewing location.

The proposal would ask NASA for between $75 million and $1 billion to operate the plane over its projected 25-year life span, he said.

Plans in the UA proposal include the construction of an on-campus "intellectual home base" to house experts and astronomers drawn by the observatory.

Tucson is ideal for such a project, Larson said, because it is close to space-related industry and its meteorological conditions are suited for astronomy.

While the responsibility of purchasing and outfitting a plane would fall to the avionics members of the UA team, SOFIA's telescope would be built in Germany and delivered to America for installation, Larson said.

The foreign-built telescope represents Germany's backing of the project, he said - a contribution somewhat in jeopardy because of NASA's vague schedule.

Larson said he checks daily with NASA to see if the request date has arrived. Until then, the 1-foot-high stack of proposal papers sits atop his desk, awaiting approval.