RELEASE: 95-206
As part of an overall restructuring of the Explorer program undertaken by NASA earlier this year, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission has been selected for development leading up to a launch on an expendable launch vehicle in October 1998.
The $108 million mission, managed by the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, will study the origin and evolution of the lightest elements -- hydrogen and deuterium -- created shortly after the Big Bang, and the forces and processes involved in the evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary systems. The far ultraviolet region of the spectrum can only be observed outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, Washington, DC, approved the selection following reviews and acceptance by NASA in cooperation with the project's international partners, Canada and France.
The FUSE Principal Investigator, Dr. Warren Moos of Johns Hopkins, is responsible for mission success, including instrument and spacecraft development, integration and testing, ground system, science operations, mission operations and data analysis. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD, is responsible for program oversight and for providing the launch vehicle.
The Explorer Program, which started in 1958, provides Earth-orbiting satellites that conduct research in space physics and astrophysics. The program is managed by the Explorer Project Office at GSFC for the Office of Space Science.