Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 18, 2026

Pioneers Program

The Pioneers or Astrophysics Pioneers Program is a NASA program started in 2020 intended to use small-size hardware. The missions are expected to include SmallSats, Balloon payloads, and payloads attached to the ISS, with a $20M cost cap.

Last revised
Jun 18, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
189 w
Citations
4
Source
Wikipedia ↗

The Pioneers or Astrophysics Pioneers Program is a NASA program started in 2020 intended to use small-size hardware. The missions are expected to include SmallSats, Balloon payloads, and payloads attached to the ISS, with a $20M cost cap.1

Four were the concepts chosen to study in January 2021, which will undergo a review before approval for flight:2

  • Aspera, a SmallSat to study galaxy evolution
  • Pandora, a SmallSat to study at least 20 stars and their respective exoplanets in order to determine their atmospherical composition
  • StarBurst, a SmallSat to detect high-energy gamma rays from the merger of neutron stars
  • PUEO, a balloon mission intended to be launched from Antarctica in order to detect signals from neutrinos3

George Mason University is currently collaborating with NASA for the Landolt space mission, which intends to put an artificial "star" in the Earth's orbit.4

References

References

  1. "Astrophysics Pioneers | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  2. "Potentially mind-blowing secrets of the universe could be exposed with new NASA missions". SYFY Official Site. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  3. "Antarctic balloon mission chosen for NASA Pioneers program | Penn State University". www.psu.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  4. "Landolt Space Mission". landolt.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-22.