From Exoplanets to Galaxies: NASA Chooses 6 Missions for Further Study

Thursday, August 17, 2017

From Exoplanets to Galaxies: NASA Chooses 6 Missions for Further Study

From Exoplanets to Galaxies: NASA Chooses 6 Missions for Further Study:

NASA has selected six astrophysics proposals for concept studies under the agency's Explorers Program.

Credit: NASA

Six astrophysics programs selected for further study by NASA have science goals across the universe, ranging from exoplanets to galaxies.

This round of choices for NASA's Explorers Program, announced Aug. 9, includes three Explorer missions ($250 million each) and three missions of opportunity ($70 million each).

Each team has the chance to do a concept study. Scientific evaluations will be performed on each study, then NASA will select one Explorer mission and one mission of opportunity to fund in 2019. The expected launch dates would fall in 2022. [The Biggest Space Missions to Watch in 2017]

The three mission proposals (each receiving $2 million for the concept study), according to a NASA statement, are:

Arcus. The mission would look at stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters with X-ray spectroscopy. The goal is to learn more about the gas around these objects, as well as how the gas and the objects interact. The principal investigator is Randall Smith, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts.
Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer (FINESSE). This mission would study how planets are formed, their climate, and the origins and evolution of their atmospheres. Its goal is to get information about at least 500 exoplanets, ranging from super-Earths to gas giants. The principal investigator is Mark Swain, an exoplanet scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx). This mission would image the sky in near-infrared wavelengths. This will reveal information about the beginnings of the universe, how galaxies formed and evolved, and would help reveal if other planets have life. The principal investigator is James Bock, an experimental cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology.

The three missions of opportunity (each receiving $500,000 for the concept study) are:

Compton Spectrometer and Imager Explorer (COSI-X). This is a telescope that would be mounted in a balloon. The telescope would look at the sky in gamma-ray wavelengths. Its goal is to examine antimatter around the Milky Way's center and radioactive elements from supernovas (star explosions). The principal investigator is Steven Boggs, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley.
Transient Astrophysics Observer on the International Space Station (ISS-TAO). This is an X-ray detector for the International Space Station whose primary goal is to look for X-rays that form when neutron stars merge with black holes or other neutron stars. It would also search for supernova shocks, neutron star bursts and gamma-ray bursts. The principal investigator is Jordan Camp, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE). This would provide fine-guidance detectors for the proposed Atmospheric Remote Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-Survey (ARIEL) mission, which is led by the European Space Agency. ARIEL's main goal is to look at the wavelengths of light emitted by exoplanets, ranging from super-Earths to gas giants. CASE can proceed only if NASA selects it and if ESA decides to go ahead with ARIEL. The principal investigator is Swain.

Explorers is NASA's longest-running program. Its first mission was Explorer 1 in 1958, which also was the first U.S. satellite. Explorer 1 discovered the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth. More than 90 missions have run under the program, including the Uhuru and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) missions that led to Nobel Prizes for their investigators.

"The Explorers Program brings out some of the most creative ideas for missions to help unravel the mysteries of the universe," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's science mission directorate, said in the statement. "The program has resulted in great missions that have returned transformational science, and these selections promise to continue that tradition."

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment

NASA Photos Photography

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

UFO SIGHTINGS PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

UFO PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

UFO - Unidentified Flying Object An unidentified flying object, or UFO, in its most general definition, is any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon. Culturally, UFOs are associated with claims of visitation by extraterrestrial life or government-related conspiracy theories, and have become popular subjects in fiction. While UFOs are often later identified, sometimes identification may not be possible owing to the usually low quality of evidence related to UFO sightings (generally anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts). Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and/or "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2). During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs". The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concern for national security. Various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat to national security nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Thursday, August 17, 2017