NASA's cosmic journeys missions: a quest for the nature of gravity

Cosmic Journeys is a new series of NASA space science missions housed within the Structure and Evolution of the Universe science theme. The central goal of the Cosmic Journeys missions is to solve the mystery of gravity, a fundamental force that is all around us but about which very little is known. Cosmic Journeys will use the power of resolution far greater than what current telescopes can muster to virtually transport us to regions in space and time where gravity is most compelling: at the rim of a black hole, across galaxy clusters and voids that pervade the Universe, and at the moment after the Big Bang when the four fundamental forces may have been intertwined. Cosmic Journeys will have a fleet of orbiting observatories at its command capturing the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The NASA Journeys program is also forging a partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE), called "Connections: From Quarks to the Cosmos," with hopes of bringing together physicists, astronomers and other professionals who have traditionally worked independently. Together, the three agencies will fund a variety of ground- and space-based research.