Athena EPIC is poised to serve as a pathfinder for space startup NovaWurks and its sensorcraft architecture, demonstrating a more innovative method for placing remote sensing instruments into orbit faster and more affordably. This approach enables the opportunity to learn from commercial best practices and implement an “all-of-government” approach.

NASA's TRACERS mission blasted off July 23 on a Falcon 9 rocket with three other small agency satellites that will act as technology demonstrators to monitor space weather.