The CSA Executive has formally approved all of the final details for the Phase A study for the ORBITALS mission, including approving the release of funding for the project. This funding will allow us to procede with the development of the mission, instruments and bus, as well as a supporting Mission Prime, as well as an Economic Benefits Study package of work during Phase A.

NASA schedules to launch in 2012 the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, a two-spacecraft mission to study the Earth's Van Allen Belts. As part of its response to the Announcement of Opportunity, NASA also has selected three teams to conduct studies for small missions that will augment the 2012 mission. One of the teams selected for this phase A study was the US instrument suite contribution to the ORBITALS called MORE and headed by LASP at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado.