The US space agency “NASA” has chosen a new proposal for a space telescope that will study the recent history of the birth and death of stars and the formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way. The telescope called “COSI” is expected to be launched in 2025 as the latest mini-astrophysics mission for NASA .
The NASA Astrophysical Explorers Program received 18 proposals for the telescope in 2019 and selected four of them for mission concept studies. “NASA”.
“For more than 60 years, NASA has provided opportunities for innovative missions on a smaller scale to fill knowledge gaps where we are still searching for answers,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. I have asked questions about the origin of the chemical elements in our Milky Way, which are the same basic components of the formation of the Earth itself.
We’ve never done any of this before.
For the 29 days after liftoff, our @NASAWebb Space Telescope will unfold like origami step by step so it can begin telling the origin story of the universe. There are no second chances: https://t.co/4JOcch1XiU pic.twitter.com/WV87kFARbe
— NASA (@NASA) October 18, 2021
COSI studies the gamma rays of radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded to map where chemical elements formed in the Milky Way. The mission will also investigate the mysterious origin of positrons in our galaxy, also known as positrons. Antielectrons are subatomic particles that have the same mass as an electron but have a positive charge.
COSI’s principal investigator is John Tomsik of the University of California, and the mission will cost about $145 million, not including launch costs.