Jennifer Marshall, MSE Project Scientist (Texas A&M University)
Numerous international astronomy reports have recently highlighted the need for fully dedicated, large aperture, massively multiplexed spectroscopy in the optical and near-Infrared wavelength regimes. Such a facility is the most obvious missing link in the emerging network of ground-based observational facilities world-wide. The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is a planned 11-m telescope facility designed to fill this scientific gap. MSE is completely dedicated to multi-object optical and near-Infrared spectroscopy of samples of between thousands and millions of astrophysical objects at a range of spectral resolutions. In this talk I will overview the wide-ranging scientific capabilities of the MSE project and review the current design status of this next generation observatory.