NASA chooses four new proposals for Explorers Program

UVEX, one of two medium explorer missions selected. Image courtesy of Caltech.

 NASA has selected two missions for its Medium Class Explorers (MIDEX) branch of the Explorers Program as well as two missions of opportunity to undergo further conceptual study. The MIDEX proposals will receive $3 million for nine month studies while the missions of opportunity will recieve $750,000.

The MIDEX missions are the UltraViolet EXplorer (UVEX), a spacecraft that would survey the sky with two bands of ultraviolet light in order to obtain new information on the life cycle of galaxies and stars, and the Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research Explorer (STAR-X) which would work in tandem with NASA's currently in-development Roman Space Telescope (RST) to map out distant galaxy clusters.

The missions of opportunity are the Moon Burst Energetics All-sky Monitor (MoonBEAM), a satellite that would scan for bursts of gamma radiation in order to guide other telescopes to the source, and a Large Area burst Polarimeter (LEAP) that would be mounted on the Internation Space Station (ISS) for the study of gamma ray bursts spawned from the creation of black holes.

Despite being faced with the likely possibility of delays due to budget cuts, NASA is expected to select one MIDEX mission and one mission of opportunity by 2024.