NASA announces $145 million worth new telescope to study gamma rays in Milky Way galaxy

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on October 19 that it has chosen the gamma-ray telescope to chart the evolution of the Milky way galaxy. In its latest press release, the space agency revealed that they have given a go-ahead to the development of the telescope that will help to study the recent history of star birth, star death, and the formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way. This announcement comes when NASA is just weeks away from launching the highly anticipated and the successor of the Hubble telescope, the James Webb space telescope. 

Purpose of the gamma-ray telescope

Officially named the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), the gamma-ray telescope will study gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded to map where chemical elements were formed in the Milky Way, as per NASA. Besides, the mission will also try to solve the mystery of the origin of our galaxy’s positrons, which are subatomic particles that have the same mass as an electron but a positive charge. 

Talking about the mission, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate said, “COSI will answer questions about the origin of the chemical elements in our own Milky Way galaxy, the very ingredients critical to the formation of Earth itself.”

According to the release, NASA had received 18 telescope proposals in 2019 and selected four for mission concept studies, under its  Astrophysics Explorers program. COSI was given a go-ahead after a detailed review of these studies by a panel of scientists and engineers. To be launched in 2025, the mission is estimated to cost $145 million and that too without the launch cost. As for the launch providers, NASA said that it will announce the names at a later date.

NASA’s Astrophysics Explorers program

NASA's program has turned out to be its oldest running one. Under this, the agency accesses space frequently and at a low cost using principal investigator-led space research relevant to the astrophysics and heliophysics programs. NASA states that since 1958’s mission Explorer 1, which saw the discovery of Earth’s radiation belts, has launched over 90 missions now. Interestingly, investigators of another NASA Explorer mission called the Cosmic Background Explorer even won a Nobel prize in 2006.

(Image: NASA)