as the two finalists for the first Probe mission<\/a>. This would be a new line of missions in the astrophysics division that, like other Explorer missions, would be competitively selected but have a higher cost cap of $1 billion.<\/p>\nAXIS and PRIMA each received $5 million contracts to perform one-year concept studies to refine their proposed missions. NASA then planned to select one of the missions for development, with a launch in 2032.<\/p>\n
Reynolds said the work on the concept study was affected by disruptions at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which provided project management for AXIS.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, with NASA-GSFC as the AXIS managing center, the mission formulation process was critically compromised by the seismic shifts occurring in NASA and the federal government,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
One issue was NASA\u2019s Deferred Resignation Program, a buyout program that resulted in about 20% of the agency\u2019s civil servant workforce leaving in 2025. Reynolds said that included more than 20 key people at Goddard working on AXIS, such as its project manager and lead for the spacecraft\u2019s X-ray mirrors, a key technology for the mission.<\/p>\n
A second issue was Goddard\u2019s response to the administration\u2019s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for NASA, which sought steep cuts to science programs, including termination of the Probe program. While that funding was largely restored in a final appropriations bill by Congress in January, he said there was reduced access to engineering and mission formulation personnel at Goddard during the summer and fall.<\/p>\n
AXIS was also affected by the government shutdown that lasted a month and a half in October and November. While NASA extended the deadline for the concept studies by six weeks, from Dec. 18 to Jan. 29, that was \u201cinadequate compensation,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Those three factors affected the AXIS team\u2019s ability to fit the mission into NASA\u2019s cost and schedule requirements. An initial \u201cgrassroots\u201d cost estimate, completed only in September, put AXIS about 10% over budget. NASA\u2019s deadlines, exacerbated by the government shutdown, kept the team from implementing cost and schedule savings it had identified.<\/p>\n
Reynolds said that left the team with two options: submit a study that did not meet NASA\u2019s cost and schedule requirements or not submit the study at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe of course proceeded with the submission,\u201d he wrote, planning to discuss how AXIS would meet those cost and schedule requirements during the review process. \u201cNASA HQ has ruled this stance to be unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reynolds, a professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, said NASA\u2019s decision not to consider AXIS was not a judgment of its technology and science. He said members of the AXIS team demonstrated advances in key technologies, such as X-ray mirrors and sensors, needed for the mission, and that the science case for the spacecraft \u201conly became stronger during our Phase A study.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s decision to disqualify AXIS leaves PRIMA as the only candidate for the next Probe mission. NASA has not disclosed how that might affect the selection process. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA\u2019s astrophysics division, said at an American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in early January that the agency expected to make a Probe mission selection by the end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The dismissal of AXIS has concerned many in the X-ray astrophysics community, who worry about the field\u2019s future. The Chandra X-ray Observatory, itself threatened with budget cuts and termination in recent budget proposals, is more than 25 years old. There are few options for large missions like it in the foreseeable future beyond NASA\u2019s collaboration with the European Space Agency on its NewAthena X-ray observatory, slated for launch in the late 2030s.<\/p>\n
Domagal-Goldman said at the AAS meeting that he expected NASA to focus technology development funding for future large astrophysics missions on the field not selected for the Probe mission, which in this case would be X-ray astronomy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the community to know that, no matter what happens with the probe, both the X-ray and the far-infrared communities have something to look forward to in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNASA will share details about future additional opportunities for the X-ray astrophysics community in the coming weeks,\u201d the agency said in its statement to SpaceNews.<\/p>\n
Reynolds wrote that he sees opportunities for X-ray astronomy to pursue \u201cfocused, high-impact\u201d missions with smaller Explorer-class spacecraft, leveraging the science cases and technologies developed for AXIS.<\/p>\n
He also expressed support for PRIMA. \u201cThere is still one excellent mission under consideration for the Probe program, PRIMA,\u201d he wrote, \u201cand we wish them a smooth and speedy path to selection and flight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 NASA has disqualified one of the two proposals for a large astrophysics mission, a decision the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[8149,718,79,722,193],"class_list":["post-517552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astrophysics","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-sn","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}