NASA Press Release:

Don Savage

Headquarters, Washington, DC         November 13, 1995

(Phone:  202/358-1547)



RELEASE:  95-206



NASA SELECTS FUSE MISSION FOR DEVELOPMENT



     As part of an overall restructuring of the Explorer 

program undertaken by NASA earlier this year, the Far 

Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission has been 

selected for development leading up to a launch on an 

expendable launch vehicle in October 1998. 



      The $108 million mission, managed by the Johns Hopkins 

University, Baltimore, MD, will study the origin and 

evolution of the lightest elements -- hydrogen and deuterium 

-- created shortly after the Big Bang, and the forces and 

processes involved in the evolution of galaxies, stars and 

planetary systems.  The far ultraviolet region of the 

spectrum can only be observed outside the Earth's atmosphere.



       Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., NASA's Associate 

Administrator for Space Science, Washington, DC, approved 

the selection following reviews and acceptance by NASA in 

cooperation with the project's international partners, 

Canada and France.



       The FUSE Principal Investigator, Dr. Warren Moos of 

Johns Hopkins, is responsible for mission success, including 

instrument and spacecraft development, integration and 

testing, ground system, science operations, mission 

operations and data analysis.  NASA's Goddard Space Flight 

Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD, is responsible for program 

oversight and for providing the launch vehicle.



       The Explorer Program, which started in 1958, provides 

Earth-orbiting satellites that conduct research in space 

physics and astrophysics. The program is managed by the 

Explorer Project Office at GSFC for the Office of Space Science.