Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 21 2007

The Space Interferometry Mission, also known as SIM PlanetQuest, is a planned space telescope being developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in conjunction with contractor Northrop Grumman. One of the main goals of the mission is the hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting stars other than the Sun (extrasolar planets). The project is being managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The initial contracts for SIM PlanetQuest were awarded in 1998, totaling US$200 million. Work on the SIM project required scientists and engineers to move through eight specific new technology milestones, and by November 2006, all eight had been completed. (more...)