NASA has made a decision to restart an astronomy mission
that will have greater capability than any existing instrument for
detecting black holes in the local universe.
The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, will expand our
understanding of the origins and destinies of stars and galaxies.
NASA had stopped the study effort on the NuSTAR mission in 2006 due
to funding pressures within the Science Mission Directorate.
"We are very excited to be able restart the NuSTAR mission, which we
expect to be launched in 2011, " said Alan Stern, associate
administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "NuSTAR has more than 500 times the
sensitivity of previous instruments that detect black holes. It's a
great opportunity for us to explore an important astronomical
frontier. We are getting more and more from the science budget we
have, and the restart of the highly-valued NuSTAR mission is an
example of that."
NuSTAR will bridge a gap between the 2009 launch of the Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer and the 2013 launch of the James Webb Space
Telescope. The spacecraft will map areas of the sky in the light of
high-energy X-rays and complement astrophysics missions that explore
the cosmos in other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
"NuSTAR will perform deep observations in hard X-rays to detect black
holes of all sizes and other exotic phenomena, " said Jon Morse,
director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. "It will
perform cutting-edge science using advanced technologies and help to
provide a balance between small and large missions in the NASA
astrophysics portfolio."
NuSTAR is a part of NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides
frequent, low-cost access to space for missions with small- to
mid-sized spacecraft. NuSTAR originally was selected from proposals
submitted in response to an announcement of opportunity in 2003.
Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
is the NuSTAR principal investigator.
NASA expects to select three additional Small Explorer missions for
flight in the first half of the next decade through a competitive
selection within the astrophysics and heliophysics scientific
communities.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. manages the NuSTAR
mission. The Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., manages the
Explorer Program for the Science Mission Directorate. Orbital
Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., is the industry partner for the mission.
For more information about the NuSTAR mission, visit:
http://www.nustar.caltech.edu