NASA Selects Two Marshall Explorer Missions of Opportunity to Conduct Mission Concept Studies

The two Mission of Opportunity teams selected at this stage will each receive $750,000 to conduct a nine-month implementation concept study.  The selected proposals are:

Moon Burst Energetics All-sky Monitor (MoonBEAM):  MoonBEAM is an $80M gamma-ray mission concept led by Marshall Space Flight Center and supported by Lockheed Martin Space, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Universities Space Research Association, and Louisiana State University. MoonBEAM aims to provide sensitive all-sky gamma-ray observation for relativistic astrophysical explosions from a cislunar orbit, and to address the time domain priority of the Astro2020 Decadal by serving as a critical component for transient and multi-messenger astronomy.

Large Area Burst Polarimeter (LEAP): The LEAP Principal Investigator is Mark McConnell at the University of New Hampshire. Major collaborating institutions include MSFC, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Teledyne Brown Engineering, and Southwest Research Institute. LEAP is designed to unravel the physics behind the formation and evolution of two of the most intriguing phenomena in astrophysics – astrophysical jets and black holes. LEAP does so by investigating the nature of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), making the highest fidelity polarization measurements to date of the prompt gamma-ray emission from a large sample of GRBs.

Read the press release at:  https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-proposals-to-study-stellar-explosions-galaxies-stars.

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