美国航天局确认UVEX紫外太空望远镜推进：2031年1月前发射，全生命周期成本5.9亿美元
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）10月27日宣布，该局的 UVEX（UltraViolet EXplorer，紫外探测器）太空望远镜任务已完成名为「关键决策点 C」（KDP-C）的技术与项目评审，获该局正式确认推进。随着通过 KDP-C，NASA 承诺 UVEX 在 2031 年 1 月前发射，任务全生命周期成本为 5.9 亿美元。
UVEX 于 2024 年被选为 NASA 的中型探测器级（Medium-Class Explorer）任务，设计目标是对整个天空进行高灵敏度的紫外波段巡天，为星系与恒星如何演化提供新的认识。NASA 表示，UVEX 与同在开展广域巡天的其他任务（如 Nancy Grace Roman 太空望远镜）一道，将帮助绘制一幅跨多个波长的现代宇宙地图。
UVEX 还能快速转向宇宙中的紫外光源，捕捉中子星合并产生引力波爆发之后随之而来的爆炸现象。
该任务的首席研究员为位于加州 Pasadena 的 California Institute of Technology 的 Fiona Harrison；参与机构还包括 University of California, Berkeley、NASA 喷气推进实验室（JPL）、Northrop Grumman 与 Space Dynamics Laboratory。
NASA Confirms UVEX Ultraviolet Space Telescope: Launch by January 2031 at $590 Million Lifecycle Cost
NASA announced on Oct. 27 that its UVEX (UltraViolet EXplorer) space telescope mission has been confirmed by the agency after completing a technical and programmatic review known as Key Decision Point C, or KDP-C. With UVEX passing its KDP-C, NASA commits to a launch by January 2031 and a total lifecycle cost of $590 million.
Originally selected for development in 2024 as a Medium-Class Explorer mission, UVEX is designed to conduct a sensitive survey of ultraviolet light across the entire sky, providing new insights into how galaxies and stars evolve. Together with other missions conducting wide surveys, such as NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, UVEX will help create a modern map of the universe across different wavelengths of light.
The UVEX observatory will also be able to quickly point toward sources of ultraviolet light in the universe, capturing the explosions that follow bursts of gravitational waves caused by merging neutron stars.
The mission's principal investigator is Fiona Harrison at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Other participating institutions include the University of California, Berkeley, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Northrop Grumman, and Space Dynamics Laboratory.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：紫外波段下呈现蓝色恒星形成区的星系（资料图）。来源：UVEX 任务官网（California Institute of Technology／NASA UVEX 任务团队）。Image: A galaxy with blue star-forming regions seen in ultraviolet light (file image). Source: UVEX mission website (California Institute of Technology / NASA UVEX mission team).
