Interesting problem, but hard...

[SupersonicMan]

Interesting problem I came across, yet I'm having some trouble with it:

Here are a few of the next generation of experiments currently being planned for constraining cosmological models. Not all of these are groundbased:

DES:https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/
PanSTARRS: PanSTARRS (http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/)
LSST:http://www.lsst.org
SNAP: http://snap.lbl.gov

What are four methods these surveys will use to constrain cosmology/dark-energy (not all of the use four methods, I'm assuming). For each of these, is making the measurement from a space-based satellite necessary or warranted?

[SpaceTiger]

These sound an awful lot like homework problems. Have you tried searching those websites? What have you gleaned from them so far?

[SupersonicMan]

The DES is primarily asking if dark energy can be a cosmological constant. However, I am a little uncertain about what exactly it means by "constraining cosmology/dark energy?

[SpaceTiger]

The DES is primarily asking if dark energy can be a cosmological constant. However, I am a little uncertain about what exactly it means by "constraining cosmology/dark energy?

"Constraining cosmology" simply means that it's attempting to measure the parameters that we use to describe our universe. This could be, for example, the total matter content, the expansion rate, or the dark energy density. If you read further into the website, you should be able to determine these details. I suggest you do that first and then ask questions about other things you don't understand.