The mission has a long history under Wright's efforts, and was first funded by NASA in 1999 as a candidate for a NASA Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) mission under the name "Next Generation Sky Survey" (NGSS).
В 1999 проект участвовал в конкурсе Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX), в программу NASA проект попал под названием Next Generation Sky Survey (NGSS).