Synopsis - May 31, 2012

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNH12ZUA005N Posted Date: May 31, 2012 FedBizOpps Posted Date: May 31, 2012 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No FedGrants Posted Date: May 31, 2012 Application Due Date Explanation: Notices of Intent (not mandatory) are due by June 21, 2012. Proposals are due on or before July 12, 2012. Classification Code: A -- Research and Development NAICS Code: 541712

Grant Specific Information

Funding Instrument Type: Grant CFDA Number: 43.009 Cost Sharing or Matching Required: No Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,500,000.00 Expected Number of Awards: 10 Ceiling Amount: none Floor Amount: none Funding Activity: Science and Technology and other Research and Development (ST) Eligible Applicants: 25 - Others (see "Description" below or Full Announcement for clarification) Link to Full Announcement: http://nspires.nasaprs.com

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Description

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released a solicitation, entitled Space Technology Research Opportunities - Early Stage Innovations (STRO-ESI), on May 31, 2012. The solicitation is available by opening the NSPIRES homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ selecting "Solicitations," then selecting "Open Solicitations," and, finally, selecting "Space Technology Research Opportunities - Early Stage Innovations (STRO-ESI)."

NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) solicits proposals from accredited U.S. universities for innovative, early-stage space technology research of high priority to NASA's Mission Directorates and OCT. Eligibility requirements are detailed in the solicitation. ESI-STRO is focused on low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) space technologies. The goal of this low-TRL technology endeavor is to accelerate the development of push technologies (technology development not directed at a specific mission) to support the future space science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies, and the commercial space sector. These Early Stage Innovation technology efforts complement the NASA Mission Directorates' focused technology activities which typically begin at TRL 3 or higher. The TRL of the efforts to be funded as a result of this call will be TRL 1 or TRL 2 at the beginning of the selected effort and TRL 2 or TRL 3 at the end of the effort.

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NASA Solicitation: Space Technology Research Opportunities: Early Stage Innovations

NASA scientists are taking a risk, aiming to land its super Martian rover closer to its ultimate destination but near a hazardous mountain slope.

"We're trimming the distance we'll have to drive after landing by almost half," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "That could get us to the mountain months earlier."

And they're able to adjust the rover's landing site because, as the robotic rover hurtled through space on its journey to Mars, NASA engineers tested and updated its flight and landing software.

NASA reported that they will send more software upgrades to the Mars rover about a week after it lands.

NASA launched the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory last November. Dubbed Curiosity, the SUV-size super rover has nearly completed an eight-month journey so it can soon begin its mission to help scientists learn whether life can exist, or has ever existed, on the Red Planet.

Curiosity, equipped with 10 scientific instruments, is expected to land on Mars in the early morning hours of August 6 to begin a two-year project to collect and analyze soil and rock samples.

Curiosity is set to join Opportunity, a NASA rover that has been working on Mars for more than six years. Opportunity has been working alone since another rover, Spirit, stopped functioning last year.

In a teleconference on Monday, NASA officials said that the agency's scientists have gained enough confidence in the precision of the landing technology aboard the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft to change its landing plans. The rover is now slated to touch down close to Mount Sharp, which is in the center of Gale Crater.

Scientists are eager to analyze the rock layers in the mountain to find out if the area has, or ever had, environmental conditions favorable to microbial life.

Prior to changing the target site, the craft was to land within an area measuring about 12 miles wide and 16 miles long. The new target site measures 4 miles wide and 12 miles long.

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NASA shoots for riskier Mars rover landing

NASA says its Mars Odyssey spacecraft circling the Red Planet put itself into safe model after detecting a problem in a system that keeps it oriented in space.

An artist's rendering shows the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

PASADENA, Calif., June 11 (UPI) -- NASA says its Mars Odyssey spacecraft circling the Red Planet put itself into safe mode after detecting a problem in a system that keeps it oriented in space.

The orbiter put itself into the protective standby mode early Friday when it detected unusual readings from one of its three reaction wheels, which are used to control its orientation, SPACE.com reported.

"The spacecraft is safe, and information we've received from it indicates the problem is limited to a single reaction wheel," mission manager Chris Potts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "The path forward is evaluating the health of the reaction wheel and our options for proceeding."

The orbiter is equipped with a spare reaction wheel onboard should one of the three primary wheels fail, NASA said.

Mars Odyssey has been studying the Red Planet since it arrived in orbit in 2011.

It has also served as a communications relay station for NASA's Spirit and Opportunity landers on the martian surface and will do the same for the next Mars rover, Curiosity, when it lands in August.

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Glitch hits NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter

A new NASA space telescope equipped with X-ray camera eyes is just days away from launching into space in the hunt for black holes.

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NASA to Launch Black Hole Space Observatory Wednesday

NASA's Mars rover, nicknamed Curiosity, is zeroing in on its August landing on the Red Planet and aims to touch down closer than expected to its mountain target, the US space agency said Monday.

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NASA's Mars rover zeroes in on August landing

ScienceDaily (June 10, 2012) NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a precautionary standby status early Friday, June 8, Universal Time (Thursday evening, Pacific Time), when the spacecraft detected unexpected characteristics in movement of one of its reaction wheels. The spacecraft uses three of these wheels as the primary method for adjusting and maintaining its orientation. It carries a spare reaction wheel.

Odyssey's flight team is in communication with the spacecraft while planning actions in response to Odyssey entering the standby status, which is called safe mode.

"The spacecraft is safe, and information we've received from it indicates the problem is limited to a single reaction wheel," said Odyssey Mission Manager Chris Potts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The path forward is evaluating the health of the reaction wheel and our options for proceeding."

Because the trigger for the incident was limited to a reaction wheel, the spacecraft did not need to completely reboot its computer, as it had in some earlier safing incidents during its record-setting decade of service at Mars. The flight team will be developing a recovery timeline in coming days.

NASA launched the Mars Odyssey spacecraft on April 7, 2001. Odyssey arrived at Mars Oct. 24, 2001. After arrival, the spacecraft spent several months using a technique called aerobraking, which involved dipping into the Martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit. In February 2002, science operations began. Odyssey has worked at Mars longer than any other mission in history. Besides conducting its own scientific observations, it serves as a communication relay for robots on the surface of Mars. NASA plans to use Odyssey and the newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as communication relays for the Mars Science Laboratory mission during the landing and Mars-surface operations of that mission's Curiosity rover.

Odyssey is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on operating the spacecraft. For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey .

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter puts itself into standby safe mode

June 10, 2012

Image Caption: During a record-breaking test on June 8, 2012, engineers throttled the J-2X powerpack up and down several times to explore numerous operating points required for the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. The results of this test will be useful for determining performance and hardware life for the J-2X engine turbopumps. Credit: NASA/SSC

NASAs Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., broke its own record Friday when it conducted a test on the new J-2X powerpack. The test lasted for 1,150 seconds, surpassing the previous record by more than a full minute.

For NASA, the test marked a milestone step in development of a next-generation rocket engine to carry humans deeper into space than ever before. For Stennis, the 19-minute, 10-second test represented the longest duration firing ever conducted in the centers A Test Complex.

This is the longest and the most complex J-2X test profile to date, said Mike Kynard, NASAs Space Launch System liquid engines element manager. By combining as many test objectives as we can, we aim to get the most out of every opportunity and work as affordability and efficiently as possible while maintaining a reasonable level of risk.

The powerpack is a system of components on the top portion of the J-2X engine, including the gas generator, oxygen and fuel turbopumps, and related ducts and valves. As designed, the powerpack system feeds the thrust chamber system, which produces engine thrust. By removing the thrust chamber assembly, including the main combustion chamber, main injector and nozzle, engineers can push more easily the turbomachinery components over a wide range of conditions to demonstrate durability and safety margins.

Setting a new record for the longest duration test on one of our stands in the A complex is a testament to the longevity and versatility of our testing facilities, said Randy Galloway, engineering and test director at Stennis. These stands, originally built in the 1960s to test the stages for the Apollo Program, then used for the Space Shuttle Program, now are being used to test for the next generation vehicle that will take us farther than we have ever gone.

This record-breaking test explored numerous operating points required for the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. The results of this test will be useful for determining performance and hardware life for the J-2X engine turbopumps. The test also allowed operators to calibrate flow meters on the stand, which measure the amount of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen delivered to the powerpack.

Before the powerpack test, the longest firing in Stennis A Test Complex occurred in August 1989, with a 1,075-second test of a space shuttle main engine. The B Test Complex still claims the record for test duration at more than 2,000 seconds.

The J-2X engine is the first human-rated liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in four decades. It will power the upper stage of NASAs evolved Space Launch System, an advanced heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earths orbit.

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NASA Surpasses Test Facility Record With J-2X Powerpack Test

ISS On-Orbit Status 06/09/12

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday - Crew off duty.

After wakeup, Gennady Padalka performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

FE-5 Andr Kuipers conducted the regular (~weekly) inspection & maintenance, as required, of the CGBA-4 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 4) and CGBA-5 payloads in their ERs (EXPRESS Racks) at Lab O2 & O1, focusing on cleaning the muffler air intakes.

The six Exp-31 crewmembers joined in conducting the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). ["Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of Uborka house cleaning, Oleg completed regular weekly maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus Group E fan grilles in the SM (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP).

The CDR also handled the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]

FE-1 Padalka downlinked the video recording of yesterday's session with the Russian KPT-10 "Kulonovskiy Kristall" (Coulomb Crystal) experiment. [KPT-10 studies dynamic and structural characteristics of the Coulomb systems formed by charged dispersed diamagnetic macroparticles in the magnetic trap, investigating the following processes onboard the ISS RS (Russian Segment): condensed dust media, Coulomb crystals, and formation of Coulomb liquids due to charged macroparticles. Coulomb systems are structures following Coulomb's Law, a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism.]

Joe Acaba & Don Pettit got together for another hour of Exp-30/Exp-31 crew handover activities.

FE-3 & FE-6 had their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Joe at ~11:10am, Don at ~2:20pm EDT.

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NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 09 June 2012

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Astronauts Shannon Walker and David Saint-Jacques test a probe in the waters off Key Largo, Fla. Their research may help NASA set foot on an asteroid someday.

Astronauts Shannon Walker and David Saint-Jacques test a probe in the waters off Key Largo, Fla. Their research may help NASA set foot on an asteroid someday.

NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before.

These voyages are years away, but on Monday, astronauts are heading underwater to take part in a simulation that will help them figure out how they might explore one possible new destination: a near-Earth asteroid.

It'll be the space agency's 16th NEEMO expedition NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations commanded by astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. She flew on one of the last space shuttle missions, and even helped prepare Atlantis for its final launch.

"It was a very bittersweet time," says Metcalf-Lindenburger, who wants to go into space again. In the meantime, she's commanding a four-person crew that's putting on scuba gear instead of space suits. She says we all have to move on.

"Like in all things. I just had my daughter finish up her last day of preschool before she goes off to kindergarten. We have to shut chapters and begin new chapters and we had to do that in the space program, too," Metcalf-Lindenburger says.

Her crew will spend two weeks working underwater, which is the best approximation on this planet of what it would be like to operate in the zero gravity of an asteroid.

Their base will be an underwater lab called Aquarius. It's about the size of a school bus and sits 60 feet under the surface a few miles off the coast of Key Largo, Fla.

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Before Deep Space, NASA Heads Deep Under Water

Enlarge Miami Herald/MCT via Getty Images

Astronaught Shannon Walker of NASA and astronaut David Saint-Jacques of Canada test moving a probe in the waters off Key Largo, Florida. The program, part of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) is meant to test equipment and man's reactions for a human rendezvous with an asteroid.

Astronaught Shannon Walker of NASA and astronaut David Saint-Jacques of Canada test moving a probe in the waters off Key Largo, Florida. The program, part of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) is meant to test equipment and man's reactions for a human rendezvous with an asteroid.

NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before.

These voyages are years away but on Monday, astronauts are heading underwater to take part in a simulation that will help them figure out how they might explore one possible new destination: A near-Earth asteroid.

Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger flew on one of the last space shuttle missions. She even helped prepare Atlantis for its final launch.

"It was a very bitter sweet time," says Metcalf-Lindenburger, who really wants to get to space again. But in the meantime, she's commanding a four-person crew that's putting on scuba gear instead of space suits.

She says we all have to move on.

"Like in all things. I just had my daughter finish up her last day of preschool before she goes off to kindergarten. We have to shut chapters and begin new chapters and we had to do that in the space program too," Metcalf-Lindenburger says.

Her crew will spend two weeks working underwater, which is the best approximation on this planet of what it would be like to operate in the zero gravity of an asteroid.

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NASA Fishes For Tools To Tackle Asteroid

The recent rise of private spaceflight has stolen some of the spotlight away from NASA, but the space agency doesn't mind a bit.

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Private Spaceflight's Rise Gives NASA a Boost

A new video from a NASA spacecraft shows the huge asteroid Vesta's complex surface in dazzling and colorful detail.

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NASA Video Reveals Huge Asteroid Vesta's Complex Surface

New observations from a NASA space telescope have spotted what may be the very first objects created in the universe in unprecedented detail, scientists say.

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Universe's 1st Objects After Big Bang Possibly Seen by NASA Telescope

NASA has released two videos from its archives to pay tribute to famed science-fiction author and space visionary Ray Bradbury, who died Tuesday (June 5) at the age of 91.

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Ray Bradbury Remembered: NASA Pays Video Tribute to Sci-Fi Legend

(AP) LOS ANGELES - A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars is in safe mode after it detected a problem.

The Mars Odyssey, which has been circling the red planet since 2001, noticed something odd with one of its gyroscope-like devices that helps control its orientation and entered standby mode as a precaution Thursday evening.

It's a common action for spacecraft to take when something unexpected occurs. In safe mode, Mars Odyssey ceases science activities but is in contact with Earth.

"The spacecraft is safe, and information we've received from it indicates the problem is limited" to that one part, mission manager Chris Potts of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement Friday.

Engineers are troubleshooting the problem and drawing up a plan to resume normal operations before August when NASA's newest rover, the one-ton Curiosity, was scheduled to land near the Martian equator to begin a two-year investigation.

The longest-running Mars spacecraft, Mars Odyssey has gone into safe mode several times in the decade it's been in operation. Unlike previous instances, it didn't have to reboot its computer this time because the issue was limited to the gyroscope-like device.

Besides snapping pictures of the Martian surface, one of Mars Odyssey's main jobs is to communicate with spacecraft on the ground. NASA planned to use Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to monitor Curiosity's landing.

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NASA troubleshoots problem on Mars Odyssey

A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars is in safe mode after it detected a problem.

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NASA troubleshoots problem on Mars Odyssey orbiter

06-06-2012 12:10 Solar Dynamics Observatory shoots as planet crosses face of the sun.

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Venus Transit 2012: Incredible Images Caught on NASA Satellite - Video

Nasa has killed a new X-ray telescope mission, two years before its planned launch.

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Nasa kicks X-ray scope into orbit

NASA and The Nature Conservancy have joined forces to support the ability to measure precipitation on a global scale while also understanding migratory bird habitats on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The organizations have signed a Space Act Agreement that will provide a location to support NASA's Precipitation Science programs, in particular the NASA-JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission. As a byproduct of this research, data also will be collected that can be used by Nature Conservancy-affiliated researchers to study migratory birds on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Through the agreement, The Conservancy is providing access to NASA at the Virginia Coast Reserve near Oyster, Va., to place the NASA Polarimetric (NPOL) weather radar, rain gauges and other instruments that will support ground validation of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. In return, NASA will, on request and a non-interference basis, support migratory bird studies by The Nature Conservancy using the NPOL radar.

The GPM mission is an international network of satellites that will provide the next generation of global space-based observations of rain and snow. The GPM Core Observatory is scheduled for launch in 2014. These GPM measurements of precipitation will advance our understanding of the global water cycle, ability to predict flooding and improve forecasting of weather.

"The NPOL radar and NASA rain gauge facilities being deployed in and around Oyster and the Delmarva Peninsula will support the GPM mission by providing accurate, high resolution measurements of rainfall- a process referred to as "ground validation"' said Walt Petersen, GPM ground validation scientist at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

He said, "At the Nature Conservancy site, ground validation is used to assess measurement accuracy of the GPM satellite instruments through a more complete understanding of rainfall characteristics and the physical processes associated with rainfall production."

Barry Truitt, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy, said "This five-year collaborative project with NASA will help The Conservancy and our partners further identify what habitats migratory birds are utilizing for fall stopovers along the lower Delmarva Peninsula and the conservation status of these lands. This agreement builds on the Conservancy's forty plus years of research, restoration, and protection on the Eastern Shore of Virginia."

To provide the necessary rainfall measurements for GPM ground validation a combination of radar and rain gauge measurements is needed. NASA is stationing approximately 50 rain gauges in an area of approximately 10 square miles near Oyster. This very concentrated network of gauges will serve as a reference for validating rain estimates made using the advanced capabilities of the NPOL radar.

The Conservancy is collaborating with professors Jeff Buler of the University of Delaware and Eric Walters of Old Dominion University on using the NPOL radar and its data stream for migratory bird studies on the southern end of the Delmarva Peninsula.

Buler is a radar ecologist who has mapped the distributions of birds during migratory stopover by observing their locations when they take flight in the evenings using the national network of NEXRAD weather surveillance radars. NPOL is a unique surveillance radar that will collect datasets offering improved bird identification and observation capabilities. The NPOL will be located in a region where NEXRAD radars do not already observe migrating birds.

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NASA And Nature Conservancy Agreement Supports Precipitation And Migratory Bird Research

NASA is canceling all work on a new space telescope designed to seek out black holes and other cosmic mysteries through X-ray light due to soaring development costs, the space agency announced Thursday.

The mission, called Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS), was running significantly over budget, said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division, during a phone call to reporters Thursday.

"The GEMS project was initiated under a very well-defined cost cap," Hertz said. "As they approached their confirmation review, it was clear they would not be able to complete it within their cost cap. NASA made the very difficult decision not to confirm GEMS into the implementation phase."

The mission team had almost completed the design stage of the project and was nearing the point where hardware for the mission would begin to be built. No working instruments were yet constructed, Hertz said. [ NASA's 2013 Budget: What Will It Buy? ]

The project was selected as a "small explorer"-class mission, with a firm cost limit of $105 million, not including the price of launching the spacecraft. NASA recently commissioned an independent review of GEMS' budget, and found that the ultimate price tag for the spacecraft was likely to be 20 to 30 percent over budget.

Because of the cost overrun, NASA decided to pull the plug on GEMS last month. On Tuesday, the GEMS team, led by principal investigator Jean Swank of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., appealed the decision and submitted documents to show they had identified new areas of cost savings.

However, NASA was not swayed.

The space agency will now have to pay an estimated $13 million in close-out costs to cancel the mission, including contract cancelation fees to Orbital Sciences Corp. and other companies that were hired to built the spacecraft.

GEMS was to use three telescopes to capture the bent X-ray light from extremely dense objects such as black holes, neutron stars and stellar remnants. The mission would have launched no earlier than 2014 and lasted two years.

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NASA scraps space telescope over high costs