Space Missions

UMD has a history of leading NASA missions and designing new concepts. UMD astronomers are currently in leadership positions for two missions under phase-A study:

AXIS: The Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite will bring X-ray astronomy back to the forefront of modern mainstream astrophysics. With a single instrument design, AXIS will offer superb arcsecond-resolution and high-sensitivity imaging in the 0.3–10 keV band. AXIS is an excellent facility for transient science, with a two-hour response time to alerts and onboard rapid transient detection.

PRIMA: The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics is a far-infrared spectroscopic mission that has been selected by NASA for a phase A study. PRIMA covers the wavelength gap between JWST and ALMA, with two instruments operating in the 24-260 um range. Over 75% of PRIMA's observing time will be open to the community.