Astronomy:Pioneers Program
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Short description: NASA spaceflight program
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The Pioneers or Astrophysics Pioneers Program is a NASA program started in 2020 intended to use small-size hardware. The missions are expected to include SmallSats, Balloon payloads, and payloads attached to the ISS, with a $20M cost cap.[1]
Four were the concepts chosen to study in January 2021, which will undergo a review before approval for flight:[2]
- Aspera, a SmallSat to study galaxy evolution
- Pandora, a SmallSat to study at least 20 stars and their respective exoplanets in order to determine their atmospherical composition
- StarBurst, a SmallSat to detect high-energy gamma rays from the merger of neutron stars
- PUEO, a balloon mission intended to be launched from Antarctica in order to detect signals from neutrinos[3]
George Mason University is currently collaborating with NASA for the Landolt space mission, which intends to put an artificial "star" in the Earth's orbit.[4]
References
- ↑ "Astrophysics Pioneers | Science Mission Directorate". https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/astrophysics-pioneers.
- ↑ "Potentially mind-blowing secrets of the universe could be exposed with new NASA missions" (in en-US). 2021-01-15. https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/secrets-of-the-universe-new-nasa-missions.
- ↑ "Antarctic balloon mission chosen for NASA Pioneers program | Penn State University" (in en). https://www.psu.edu/news/academics/story/antarctic-balloon-mission-chosen-nasa-pioneers-program/.
- ↑ "Landolt Space Mission". https://landolt.gmu.edu/.
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