Article by: Andacs Robert Eugen, on 10 July 2022, at 03:03 am Los Angeles time

While the first full-color images from James Webb are awaited, NASA already wants to create a new telescope to study the "chemistry of our galaxy".

This includes the formation of nuclei of stars, the various rather strange molecules found in the center of our galaxy, and many other things.

Even is the telescope is in the first development phases, NASA has announced some details. The telescope will be a gamma-ray telescope, the name will be Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), and is expected to be launched in 2025.

"COSI will answer questions about the origin of the chemical elements in our own Milky Way galaxy, even the essential ingredients for the formation of the Earth itself," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of the agency's Washington Mission.

"COSI will study the gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded to map where chemical elements formed in the Milky Way. Dairy," he continued.

No launch provider has been selected yet, but SpaceX or a new collaboration with ESA could be a solution.

The mission will cost $ 145 million, not including the amount and launch costs, but only the telescope, instruments, and other needed things in the spaceship.