  The Star Formation Camera (SFC) is a wide-field (~15'x19, >280 arcmin^2),
high-resolution (18x18 mas pixels) UV/optical dichroic camera designed for the
Theia 4-m space-borne space telescope concept. SFC will deliver
diffraction-limited images at lambda > 300 nm in both a blue (190-517nm) and a
red (517-1075nm) channel simultaneously. Our aim is to conduct a comprehensive
and systematic study of the astrophysical processes and environments relevant
for the births and life cycles of stars and their planetary systems, and to
investigate and understand the range of environments, feedback mechanisms, and
other factors that most affect the outcome of the star and planet formation
process. This program addresses the origins and evolution of stars, galaxies,
and cosmic structure and has direct relevance for the formation and survival of
planetary systems like our Solar System and planets like Earth. We present the
design and performance specifications resulting from the implementation study
of the camera, conducted under NASA's Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept
Studies program, which is intended to assemble realistic options for mission
development over the next decade. The result is an extraordinarily capable
instrument that will provide deep, high-resolution imaging across a very wide
field enabling a great variety of community science as well as completing the
core survey science that drives the design of the camera. The technology
associated with the camera is next generation but still relatively high TRL,
allowing a low-risk solution with moderate technology development investment
over the next 10 years. We estimate the cost of the instrument to be $390M
FY08.
