NASA has selected the winner among the finalists of the next Explorers competition in the category of small research vehicles.
It is the COSI gamma-ray space telescope, which will be launched into low-Earth orbit in 2025 and will investigate galactic gamma-ray sources.
NASA has been working on the Explorers program since the 60s of the last century.
The program has developed spacecraft and telescopes for conducting various research in the fields of physics, geophysics, heliophysics and astrophysics.
In total, more than 90 different devices have already been launched under the program.
Some of them are Swift gamma observatory, the WMAP probe, the WISE infrared telescope, as well as the "exoplanet hunter" TESS and the COBE probe.
On October 18, 2021, the agency announced that it had selected a new project for implementation under the Explorers program.
It was the small-class space gamma-ray telescope COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager), which in 2020 was one of four finalists in the next competitive selection.
It will operate in the soft gamma range and detect gamma rays from supernova remnants and other galactic objects, as well as positron annihilation.
In 2016, the COSI payload replica successfully operated a balloon for two weeks.
In the current version of the project, the payload will be located on board the vehicle, which will go into low-earth orbit.
The total cost of creating COSI is $145 million excluding launch services. The launch itself is scheduled for 2025.
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