Scientific and technical contributions to new ground-based and space instrumentation

In addition to world-leading research that is carried out within the CAB Massive Star research group we are committed to the development of the current and next generation of ground- and space-based instrumentation. Besides our past involvement in the SPICASAFARI instrument (F. Najarro was the national representative for Spain), we were members of the science teams supporting the construction of the WSO, MEGARA, MIRADAS, 4MOST and WEAVE instruments that at various stages of operation. We work to define the technical specifications for the first generation of instruments at the Extremely Large Telescope, HARMONI and MOSAIC. We are part of ESA and NASA consortia promoting the construction of a future large space telescope; these efforts materialized in international papers on the LUVOIR and HabEx mission concepts, and in our participation in two instrument science teams: LUMOS and POLLUX. We are also working to become involved in NASA’s future flagship, the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) as well as PRIMA, one of the candidates for the NASA FIR probe mission call. We handle the codes that currently provide the best description for the atmospheres of hot massive stars, with deep understanding of the physics, and keep working to improve them. Our observations include photometry and spectroscopy in the UV, optical and near-IR ranges, with some additional data in the far-IR and radio. This powerful database has been built from the successful proposals to large facilities (HST, HERSCHEL, VLT, GTC, VLA) led by our team members.