Previous News

[12/08/2021] Hyperion (PI: Erika Hamden) is proposed to NASA Astrophysics Exploers Program 2021 Medium Explorer (MIDEX) AO ($300M).

[12/06/2021] Aspera gets green light from NASA - the mission has passed the first Pioneers gate review - now officially moving towards Phase B. Go Aspera!

[11/12/2021] Aspera System Requirements Review (SRR) is successfully done over Nov. 12-13 via virtual and in-person site visit at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona.

[09/01/2021] Aspera Conceptual Design Study Report is submitted to NASA.

[01/07/2021] Aspera selected!!! ( NASA Press Release, University of Arizona Press Release). Aspera is funded by 2020 NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program (PI-managed cost-cap: 20M USD, excluding launch cost). Aspera is UV Small-Satellite mission to detect and map the warm-hot coronal gas in nearby galaxy halos via O VI emission (103.2 nm) spectroscopy. Dr. Carlos Vargas is Principal Investigator (PI), and Prof. Erika Hamden is Deputy-PI. I am the project scientist and in charge of leading Aspera instrument team.

[12/19/2020] The first web version of S/N calculator (a.k.a. Exposure time calcuator) is released. Currently DOTIFS is the only supported instrument, but other instruments will be added in the future.

[10/07/2020] Aspera is proposed to NASA Astrophysics Pioneers ($20M) AO.