NASA moves the far-infrared PRIMA telescope into preliminary design
NASA moved PRIMA, a far-infrared Probe Explorers mission, into Phase B, the preliminary-design step. If it passes confirmation, the project cap is 1.2 billion dollars excluding launch, with a 2033 target and a planned five-year flight. A 5.9-foot telescope would survey the wavelengths between Webb and radio dishes. Caltech reported the same confirmation and said JPL will develop and operate the observatory, with IPAC as the science center. Phase B is not flight approval. Caltech's page is not the source of the cap.
Science··Morning
PRIMA enters preliminary design as the first Probe Explorer
NASA's 23 September release says the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics, PRIMA, is moving into Phase B, the preliminary-design and technology step. It is the first mission selected for the Probe Explorers class recommended by the National Academies' 2020 decadal survey. Caltech reported the same day that NASA confirmed the mission. The two accounts agree that a far-infrared telescope has been selected and is leaving the earlier study phase. NASA is the source for the class and the decadal lineage. Caltech is the source for the word confirmation and for who on campus will carry the work. Phase B is not yet a flight approval, NASA says.[1], [2]
JPL will build it and IPAC will handle the science data
NASA says JPL will manage PRIMA, with Goddard, Marshall and contributions from CNES, ASI, DLR, CSA, KASI, JAXA and the UK Space Agency. Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, says JPL will develop and operate the observatory and that IPAC will be the science center for planning, scheduling, calibration and data processing. The data would sit in the Infrared Science Archive. Those roles are the institutional fact Caltech adds. They do not change the instrument NASA described: a 5.9-foot telescope surveying far-infrared light between the James Webb Space Telescope and radio telescopes, tracing planets, galaxies and dust. If the project passes confirmation review, NASA caps it at 1.2 billion dollars, not including launch. Caltech's page uses its own round figure and is not cited here for the cap.[1], [2]
The launch target is 2033, and only if confirmation holds
NASA targets a 2033 launch and a planned five-year mission, and only if the observatory passes confirmation review. Caltech puts the launch target in the 2030s and says the mission now advances into detailed design and technology maturation. The decade and the phase match. The precise year and the dollar cap stay with NASA, because that is the agency release. The antecedent is the 2020 decadal survey that asked for this mission class. What changed on 23 September is that the first of that class has a name, a manager and a design phase. It does not yet have permission to be built for flight. A reader who stops at confirmed will miss the sentence NASA put next to it.[1], [2]
