NASA Restarts Telescope Mission to Detect Black Holes
NASA has made a decision to restart an astronomy 
mission that will have greater capability than any existing instrument 
for detecting black holes in the local universe.
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA has made a decision to restart an astronomy 
mission that will have greater capability than any existing instrument 
for detecting black holes in the local universe.The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is managed by JPL.  
It will expand our understanding of the origins and destinies of stars 
and galaxies. NASA had stopped the study effort on the mission in 2006 
due to funding pressures within the Science Mission Directorate."We are very excited to be able restart the NuSTAR mission, which we expect 
to be launched in 2011," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for the 
Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "NuSTAR has 
more than 500 times the sensitivity of previous instruments that detect black 
holes. It's a great opportunity for us to explore an important astronomical 
frontier. We are getting more and more from the science budget we have, and 
the restart of the highly-valued NuSTAR mission is an example of that."The mission will bridge the gap between the 2009 launch of the Wide-field 
Infrared Survey Explorer and the 2013 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. 
The spacecraft will map areas of the sky in the light of high-energy X-rays 
and complement astrophysics missions that explore the cosmos in other regions 
of the electromagnetic spectrum."NuSTAR will perform deep observations in hard X-rays to detect black holes 
of all sizes and other exotic phenomena," said Jon Morse, director of the 
Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. "It will perform cutting-edge 
science using advanced technologies and help to provide a balance between small 
and large missions in the NASA astrophysics portfolio."The mission is a part of NASA's Explorer Program. The program provides frequent, 
low-cost access to space for missions with small- to mid-sized spacecraft. The 
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array originally was selected from proposals 
submitted in response to an announcement of opportunity in 2003. Fiona Harrison 
of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, is the mission's principal 
investigator.  JPL is a division of Caltech.NASA expects to select three additional Small Explorer missions for flight in 
the first half of the next decade through a competitive selection within the 
astrophysics and heliophysics scientific communities.The Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., manages the Explorer Program 
for the Science Mission Directorate. Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., is 
the industry partner for the mission.For more information about the NuSTAR mission, visithttp://www.nustar.caltech.edu.
For information about NASA's Explorer Program, visithttp://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visithttp://www.nasa.gov.