The award is to fund a detector array and controller upgrade for SpeX, a medium resolution spectrograph commissioned on the InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) in 2000. This upgrade to the instrument will enable this unique instrument to continue having a productive life. It will improve the sensitivity of the instrument as well give broader simultaneous wavelength coverage. All observing programs will benefit from this upgrade, in particular the observations of Near Earth Objects as well as ultracool brown dwarfs and high red-shift quasars.
