NASA has awarded the FIREBall-2 UV balloon telescope mission $644,229 over four years to perform two more flights. Assistant Professor Keri Hoadley is a co-investigator in this multi-international research collaboration.

FIREBall-2 is the only UV telescope designed to map the emission from cool/warm gas found outside of galaxies, the circumgalactic medium (CGM), to better understand what role it plays in how galaxies evolve. The CGM is thought to be an integral, yet illusive, environment that transforms the formation and evolution of galaxies, both providing the necessary ingredients for galaxies to fuel star formation and cutting them off from that same raw material. Despite its importance, it is incredibly faint and difficult to see directly. 

Chris Martin of Caltech is the principal investigator for FIREBall-2, which includes Hoadley and researchers from the University of Arizona, Columbia University CNES (France), LAM (France), and Observatoire de Paris (France). 

See this news article about the initial funding for FIREBall-2.