Goddard Scientists Among Those Selected for SMEX Mission Studies

Two of the five Small Explorers mission proposals selected by NASA for feasibility include Goddard scientists. Each of the five proposed missions will receive $450,000 to conduct a five-month implementation feasibility study, and $250,000 has been allocated for the mission of opportunity feasibility study.

Among the five SMEX proposals selected was the Normal-incidence Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (NEXUS), a solar spectrometer with major advances in sensitivity and resolutions to reveal the cause of coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Dr. Joseph M. Davila of Goddard will lead NEXUS at the total mission cost to NASA of $131 million.

Artist concept of ultra long duration balloon in atmosphere.

A long duration balloon payload, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), was selected as the mission of opportunity. ANITA will detect radio waves emitted when high-energy neutrinos interact in the Antarctic Ice shelf. Peter W. Gorham of the University of Hawaii at Manoa would lead ANITA. The Wallops Flight Facility manages the NASA Balloon program, which offers capabilities and benefits for scientific research that cannot be duplicated by other methods. Scientific balloons can carry a payload weighing as much as 8,000 pounds (3,630 kilograms), which is about the weight of three small cars. They can fly to an altitude of 26 miles (42 kilometers), with flights lasting an average of 12 to 24 hours. Some special purpose long duration balloon flights have lasted more than two weeks.

In addition, NASA selected Dr. Jean Swank, an astrophysicist at Goddard, for work towards the development a polarization sensitive X-ray detector. Dr. Swank will receive up to $300,000 over the next two year for her study. Dr. Swank has worked on the interpretation of X-ray sources and on satellite experiments to observe the properties of X-ray sources. She has served as a project scientist for the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), working on the design and the development of the Proportional Counter Array on RXTE.

Two mission proposals will ultimately be selected for full development to become the tenth and eleventh SMEX missions. The Explorer Program is managed by Goddard for NASA's Office of Space Science and is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for physics and astronomy missions with small to mid-sized spacecraft.

For more information on the selected missions for the feasibility study, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/2003/h03-353.htm

For more information about the Explorer Program on the Internet, visit: http://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov