Discovery Missions Selected for Further Study
Ron Baalke
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. February 11, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-1727)
RELEASE: 93-027
NASA SELECTS 11 DISCOVERY MISSION CONCEPTS FOR STUDY
NASA today announced the selection of 11 new science mission
concepts in the Discovery Program which have been identified for
further study during this fiscal year.
The mission candidates were selected from 73 concepts
discussed at the Discovery Mission Workshop held at the San Juan
Capistrano Research Institute in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.,
last Nov. 16-20. The potential projects were those considered to
have the highest scientific value as well as a reasonable chance
of meeting strict budgetary guidelines.
Discovery missions are designed to proceed from development
to flight in less than 3 years, combining well-defined
objectives, proven instruments and flight systems, costs limited
to no more than $150 million and acceptance of a greater level of
risk.
"These missions represent a bold new way of doing business
at NASA," said NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. "By accepting a
greater level of risk, we can deliver high-return missions that
are cost-effective, quicker from concept to launch, and
responsive to the present budget climate. They promise to
revolutionize the way we carry out planetary science in the next
century."
"The Discovery Program is probably the most exciting new
initiative in planetary exploration," said Dr. Wesley T.
Huntress, Jr., Director of NASA's Solar System Exploration
Division.
"We now will be able to more effectively take advantage of
emerging technology and quickly - and relatively cheaply -
undertake more new missions of discovery than at anytime since
the beginning of the space age. Also, because of the shorter
time frames and lower costs, these missions will allow greater
participation from the academic and aerospace communities,"
Huntress said.
The 11 mission concepts to be studied are:
% Mercury Polar Flyby has an objective to study the
polar caps and complete the photographic reconnaissance of the planet.
Principal Investigator: Paul D. Spudis, Lunar and Planetary
Institute, Houston.
% Hermes Global Orbiter to Mercury involves remote
sensing of the planet's surface, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Principal Investigator: Robert Nelson, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
% Venus Multiprobe Mission involves placement of 14
small entry probes over one hemisphere of Venus to measure winds,
temperature and pressure. Principal Investigator: Richard
Goody, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
% Venus Composition Probe enters Venus' atmosphere in
daylight to measure atmospheric structure and composition on a
parachute descent. Principal Investigator: Larry W. Esposito,
University of Colorado, Boulder.
% Cometary Coma Chemical Composition aims to rendezvous
with a cometary nucleus at or near perihelion and conduct 100
days of scientific operations. Principal Investigator: Glenn C.
Carle, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
% Mars Upper Atmosphere Dynamics, Energetics and
Evolution Mission will study Mars' upper atmosphere and
ionosphere. Principal Investigator: Timothy Killeen, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
% Comet Nucleus Tour involves study of three comets
during a 5-year mission, focusing on structure and composition of
the nucleus. Principal Investigator: Joseph Veverka, Cornell
University, Ithica, N.Y.
% Small Missions to Asteroids and Comets involves four
separate spacecraft launches to study distinctly different types
of comets and asteroids. Principal Investigator: Michael
Belton, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tuscon, Ariz.
% Near Earth Asteroid Returned Sample will acquire
samples from six sites on a near-Earth asteroid and return them
to Earth for study. Principal Investigator: Eugene Shoemaker,
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz.
% Earth Orbital Ultraviolet Jovian Observer will study
the Jovian system from Earth orbit with a spectroscopic imaging
telescope. Principal Investigator: Paul Feldman, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore.
% Solar Wind Sample Return mission aims at collecting
and returning solar wind material to Earth for analysis.
Principal Investigator: Don Burnett, Calif. Institute of
Technology, Pasadena.
In addition, three concepts also were targeted for further
consideration this fiscal year. They are:
% Mainbelt Asteroid Rendezvous Explorer would
rendezvous and orbit the mainbelt asteroids Iris or Vesta.
Principal Investigator: Joseph Veverka, Cornell University,
Ithica, N.Y.
% Comet Nucleus Penetrator would rendezvous with a
comet and deploy a penetrator into its nucleus. Principal
Investigator: William V. Boynton, University of Arizona, Tuscon.
% Mars Polar Pathfinder involves a lander which will
carry out subsurface exploration of the northern Martian polar
cap by radar and a probe to measure ice quantities and
temperature. Principal Investigator: David A. Paige, University
of Calif. at Los Angeles.
"It was a difficult task narrowing the list down," said Dr.
Richard Vorder Bruegge, a member of the Discovery Advanced Study
Review Group which made the selections.
A formal competition to make final selections of the
missions to be conducted will be announced possibly next year.
"The formal selection process will be open to all interested
parties. Anyone will be able to submit a proposal for a
Discovery mission in the formal competition," said Vorder
Bruegge. "These proposals will have to be more extensive than
the studies and include science rationale, spacecraft design,
observations, data systems -- a start-to-finish proposal for a
new mission."
The 11 mission concepts selected follow the first two
Discovery missions selected for Phase A studies last year. They
are the Mars Environmental Survey (MESUR) Pathfinder, planned for
launch in 1996, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR),
planned for a 1998 launch.
Phase A studies of the MESUR Pathfinder mission was awarded
to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (JPL). The
Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Md. (APL), has been awarded Phase A studies of the
NEAR mission.
MESUR Pathfinder is envisioned as a technical demonstration
and validation flight for the MESUR program, scheduled to begin
in 1999. The MESUR program calls for building a network of about
16 small automated surface stations widely scattered around Mars
to study the planet's internal structure, meteorology and local
surface properties.
NEAR would spend up to a year station-keeping with a near-
Earth asteroid. The NEAR spacecraft, probably carrying only
three instruments, would assess the asteroid's mass, size,
density and spin rate, map its surface topography and
composition, determine its internal properties and study its
interaction with the interplanetary environment.
"The study of planets provides other planetary examples
against which to compare our own Earth, in order to understand
better how planet Earth works and how it behaves," said
Huntress. "The study of the solar system, and the planetary
bodies within it, also will help us to understand how our solar
system formed, how other solar systems might form around other
stars, and therefore lead us to answer whether or not there are
other Earths and other life in the universe.
"To understand the uniqueness of the Earth, we need to
understand the other rocky planets in the solar system --
Mercury, Venus and Mars. To find clues to the origin and
evolution of the solar system we need to examine and return
samples from the oldest and most primitive objects in the solar
system -- comets and asteroids," Huntress said.
The Discovery Program is managed by the Solar System
Exploration Division of the Office of Space Science and
Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
- end -
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Discovery Program Workshop Summary report,
containing a list of the 73 mission concepts presented at the
Discovery Mission Workshop at La Jolla, Calif., is available by
calling the NASA Headquarters Newsroom at 202/358-1600.
___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baa...@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Never yell "Movie!" in a
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | crowded fire station.
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