NASA’s Explorer Program Nabs Newbies

Two science proposals have now been selected by NASA to become the agency’s next Explorer Program Mission of Opportunity investigations. The first investigation will provide a U.S. science instrument to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency‘s New exploration X-Ray Telescope (NeXT). The telescope, currently planned for launch in 2013, will open a new observing window on X-rays and the study of astrophysical phenomena. NASA’s proposed funding for the instrument and operations is $44 million. The second investigation will fly an atmospheric remote sensing instrument package aboard a yet-to-be-determined future commercial satellite. The investigation initially will be funded at approximately $250,000 for a concept study to aid in a NASA decision on further development. The two investigations were selected from among 17 proposals received by NASA earlier this year. They were evaluated by peer reviewers.

The selected proposals are:

• High-Resolution Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS) for NEXT, Principal Investigator Richard L. Kelley, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. The SXS will probe matter in extreme environments; investigate the nature of dark matter on large scales in the universe; and explore how galaxies and clusters of galaxies form and evolve
• Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), Principal Investigator Richard Eastes, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. GOLD will increase our understanding of the temperature and composition in the ionosphere; and provide understanding of the global scale response of the Earth’s thermosphere and ionosphere

NASA‘s Explorer Program is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for heliophysics and astrophysics missions with small to mid-sized spacecraft. The program is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Select the image below for further information…