Nasa's Small Explorer Program

Abstract

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Space Science and Applications has initiated a new component of the Explorer Program to provide research opportunities characterized by small, quick turn-around, and frequent space missions. The objective is to launch one to two payloads per year, depending on mission cost and availability of funds and launch vehicles. The first Small Explorer Announcement of Opportunity, released in May 1988, invited proposals in Astrophysics, Space Physics, and Upper Atmospheric Science disciplines. From the 51 proposals received, four missions were selected for flight. The initial flight missions described in this paper, in order of tentative launch date, are: the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX); the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS); the Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST); and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). In order to avoid oversubscribing the program, NASA plans to issue an Announcement of Opportunity every few years and to select only the investigations that can be launched within a three year period.