Pioneers Program

Short description: NASA spaceflight program

The Pioneers or Astrophysics Pioneers Program is a NASA program started in 2020 intended to use low-cost, small-size hardware to carry out sub-orbital and space-based astrophysics investigations. The missions are expected to include SmallSats, balloon payloads, and payloads attached to the ISS, with a $20M cost cap.^[1]

Four concepts were chosen in January 2021:^[2]^[3]

Aspera, a SmallSat to study galaxy evolution
Pandora, a SmallSat launched on January 11th, 2026, to study at least 20 stars and their respective exoplanets in order to determine their atmospherical composition
StarBurst, a SmallSat to detect high-energy gamma rays from neutron star mergers, targeted to launch in summer 2027
PUEO (Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations), a balloon mission successfully launched on December 19, 2025 from the McMurdo Station’s Long Duration Balloon Facility in Antarctica for a 23-day flight in order to detect signals from neutrinos^[4]^[5]^[6]; future flights are possible^[6]

Three additional missions have been selected as of June 2026:^[7]

TIGERISS (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder on the International Space Station), selected in 2022 and anticipated to launch in 2027, a payload attached to the ISS to test models of nucleosynthesis and increase understanding of the production and distribution of elements in the galaxy^[8]^[9]^[10]
Landolt space mission, selected in 2024, a SmallSat intended to act as an artificial "star" in the Earth's orbit, enabling the absolute flux calibration of telescopes and thus more accurate measurements of brightness for astronomical objects^[11]
POEMM (Planetary Origins and Evolution Multispectral Monochromator), selected in July 2024 and expected to launch around 2028, a balloon mission with a 1.8 meter telescope and multiple spectrometers that will study planet formation and evolution in the far infrared^[12]^[13]

References

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneers Program. Read more

[1] "Astrophysics Pioneers | Science Mission Directorate". https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/astrophysics-pioneers.

[2] "Potentially mind-blowing secrets of the universe could be exposed with new NASA missions" (in en-US). 2021-01-15. https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/secrets-of-the-universe-new-nasa-missions.

[3] "Astrophysics Pioneers - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2021-01-05. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/astrophysics-pioneers/.

[4] "Antarctic balloon mission chosen for NASA Pioneers program | Penn State University" (in en). https://www.psu.edu/news/academics/story/antarctic-balloon-mission-chosen-nasa-pioneers-program/.

[5] son (2026-02-13). "PUEO's Antarctic flight advances neutrino research | McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences" (in en). https://mcss.washu.edu/news/pueos-antarctic-flight-advances-neutrino-research.

[:0-6] 6.0 ^6.1 "Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO)". https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/pueo.html.

[7] "Astrophysics Pioneers - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2021-01-05. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/programs/astrophysics-pioneers/.

[8] "Research | TIGERISS | Washington University in St. Louis". https://sites.wustl.edu/tigeriss/research/.

[9] "TigerISS". https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/tigeriss.html.

[10] Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight. "Nicholas Wade Cannady - Sciences and Exploration Directorate" (in en). https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/nicholas.w.cannady.

[11] "Landolt Space Mission". https://landolt.gmu.edu/.

[12] "Organisatie" (in en-US). https://terahertz.tudelft.nl/News/indexitem.php?mi=652.

[13] "POEMM - A NASA Pioneers Mission". https://poemm.astro.cornell.edu/.

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