NASA has selected four missions for the “Explorers” program, which include studies of exploding stars, distant galaxy clusters, as well as nearby galaxies and stars.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement that “The Explorers program has a proud tradition of supporting innovative approaches to exceptional science, and these selections hold the same promise.”
“From studying the evolution of galaxies to explosive high-energy events, these proposals are inspiring in their scope and creativity to explore the unknown in our universe,” he said.
Two “Explorer of Opportunity” missions and two “Astrophysics Medium Explorer” missions were chosen.
In 2024, after a detailed evaluation of these studies, the agency plans to select an Opportunity Mission and a Medium Explorer to proceed with implementation. Selected missions will be released in 2027 and 2028 respectively.
The program’s missions must conduct focused scientific investigations and develop instruments that fill the scientific gaps between the agency’s largest space science missions.
According to NASA, the proposals were selected competitively based on the potential scientific value and feasibility of the development plans.
Each of Medium Explorer’s teams is to be awarded $3 million to conduct a nine-month mission concept study. As far as the costs of the Astrophysics Medium Explorer mission are concerned, they are capped at $300 million each, excluding the launch vehicle.
Check out the Medium Explorer proposals
UltraViolet EXPlorer (UVEX)
- UVEX proposes to carry out a deep survey of the entire sky in two bands of ultraviolet light, providing new insights into the evolution of galaxies and the life cycle of stars. The spacecraft would have the ability to quickly aim to capture the ultraviolet light of the explosion that follows an explosion of gravitational waves caused by the merger of neutron stars. The UVEX rocket would carry an ultraviolet spectrograph for the detailed study of massive stars and stellar explosions.
- The primary mission officer is Fiona Harrison at Caltech in Pasadena, California
Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research Explorer (STAR-X)
- In the second proposal, the STAR-X spacecraft would be able to rapidly rotate to point a sensitive wide-field X-ray telescope and an ultraviolet telescope at transient cosmic sources such as supernova explosions and active galaxies. Deep X-ray surveys map hot gas trapped in distant galaxy clusters; combined with infrared observations from NASA’s upcoming Roman Space Telescope, these observations would trace how massive clusters of galaxies accumulated over cosmic history.
- The mission’s Principal Investigator is William Zhang at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Check out the Explorer of Opportunity proposals
Each of the two Explorer of Opportunity teams selected in this phase will receive $750,000 to conduct a nine-month implementation concept study. NASA Opportunity Mission costs are capped at $80 million each. The selected proposals are:
Moon Burst Energetics Monitor All-sky (MoonBEAM)
- In its orbit between Earth and the Moon, the MoonBEAM rocket would see almost the entire sky at any given time, observing gamma-ray bursts from distant cosmic bursts and quickly alerting other telescopes to study the source. The program would be able to see gamma rays before or after telescopes on Earth or in low orbit, and astronomers could use that time difference to identify the source of gamma rays in the sky.
- The mission’s lead scientist is Chiumun Michelle Hui at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
A Large Area Burst Polarimeter (LEAP)
- Mounted on the International Space Station, LEAP would study gamma-ray bursts from energetic jets launched during the formation of a black hole after the explosive death of a massive star, or in the merger of compact objects. High-energy gamma-ray radiation can be polarized or vibrate in a specific direction, which can distinguish between competing theories for the nature of jets.
- Principal Investigator: Mark McConnell of the University of New Hampshire at Durham
The Explorers Program is NASA’s oldest. It is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using investigator-led space science investigations for the Science Mission Directorate’s astrophysics and heliophysics programs.
Since the launch of Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered Earth’s radiation belts, the Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions, including the Uhuru and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) missions, which have won Nobel Prizes for its investigators.
Source: CNN Brasil
