NASA selects mission proposal submitted by U astrophysicist

Dan Wik and the STAR-X team for further study

NASA has selected four mission proposals submitted to the agency’s Explorers Program for further study. Daniel Wik, a U astrophysicist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, is a member of the STAR-X Proposal Team, which proposed one of the “Medium Explorer” missions. (Two “Missions of Opportunity” proposals were also selected.) The four proposals describe missions that would study exploding stars, distant clusters of galaxies, and nearby galaxies and stars.

After detailed evaluation of those studies, NASA plans to select one Mission of Opportunity and one Medium Explorer Mission in 2024. The selected missions will be targeted for launch in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

“The fact that STAR-X has passed this competitive milestone is a testament to the hard work and vision of both the hardware and science teams,” said Wik. “It has been enormous fun for me to contribute to this effort and collaborate with such a talented and convivial group of scientists. I hope this collaboration will continue for years.”

Wik is an X-ray astronomer who primarily works with observations conducted by the NuSTAR mission, along with data from other X-ray observatories, such as XMM-Newton , Chandra , and the soon-to-launch XRISM, studying galaxies and galaxy clusters. Before joining the U in 2017, he was a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center outside Washington, D.C.

“NASA’s Explorers Program has a proud tradition of supporting innovative approaches to exceptional science, and these selections hold that same promise,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “From studying the evolution of galaxies to explosive, highenergy events, these proposals are inspiring in their scope and creativity to explore the unknown in our universe.”

NASA Explorer missions conduct focused scientific investigations and develop instruments that fill scientific gaps between the agency’s larger space science missions. The proposals were competitively selected based on potential science value and feasibility of development plans.

The Explorers Program is the oldest continuous NASA program. The program is designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s astrophysics and heliophysics programs.

Since the launch of Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered the Earth’s radiation belts, the Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions, including the Uhuru and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) missions that led to Nobel prizes for their investigators.

The Explorers Program is managed by NASA Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Directorate conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system, and the universe.

For more information about Wik and the STAR-X team, visit: http://star-x.xraydeep.org/.