WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says it's selected three teams to design and build science instruments for a European-led solar mission.
NASA said the instruments, valued at approximately $81 million are part of its Living with a Star Program. The total amount designated for the initial design of the instruments is $1.7 million.
The science teams selected are:
-- Russell Howard, principal investigator for the Heliospheric Imager instrument, valued at $29.7 million. The team will be funded through an inter-agency agreement with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
-- Donald Hassler, principal investigator for the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment instrument, valued at $34 million. The team will be funded through a cost plus award fee contract with Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
-- Glenn Mason, co-investigator for the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph instrument, valued at $17.3 million. Mason will be funded through a current NASA contract with the Applied Physics Laboratory in Columbia, Md.
NASA said its Living with a Star Program is designed to understand how and why the sun varies, how planetary systems respond and the effect on human space and Earth activities.
