Pioneers Program

Short description: NASA spaceflight program

Not to be confused with Pioneer program.

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The Pioneers or Astrophysics Pioneers Program is a NASA program started in 2020 intended to use small-size hardware. The missions are expected to include SmallSats, Balloon payloads, and payloads attached to the ISS, with a $20M cost cap.[1]

Four were the concepts chosen to study in January 2021, which will undergo a review before approval for flight:[2]

* Aspera, a SmallSat to study galaxy evolution
* Pandora, a SmallSat 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 the merger of neutron stars
* PUEO, a balloon mission intended to be launched from Antarctica in order to detect signals from neutrinos[3]

George Mason University is currently collaborating with NASA for the Landolt space mission, which intends to put an artificial "star" in the Earth's orbit.[4]

## References

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. ↑ "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/.
4. ↑ "Landolt Space Mission". https://landolt.gmu.edu/.

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