NASA 's is a series of lower-cost, highly focused scientific space missions. It was founded to implement NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin 's vision of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary missions. Discovery missions differ from traditional NASA mission where targets and objectives are pre-specified, instead, these missions are proposed by any organization while costs are capped. Proposing organizations may be teams of people in the industry, small businesses, government laboratories, and universities, and led by a Principal Investigator (PI). Proposals are then selected through a competitive peer review process. Development time of missions from start to launch cannot be longer than 36 months. Currently, for the 2006 Announcement of Opportunity, the cost is capped at $425 million {Link without Title} .
- NEAR Shoemaker , a mission to study Asteroid 433 Eros . It has succeeded its primary and extended mission and is now defunct, having successfully landed on surface of Eros.
- Mars Pathfinder , a Mars lander to deploy a miniature rover on the surface. It has completed its primary and extended mission and is now defunct.
- Lunar Prospector , a Moon orbiter to characterize the lunar mineralogy. It has completed its primary and extended mission and deliberately impacted onto the Moon's surface.
- Deep Impact , a mission in which a spacecraft released an impactor into the path of Comet Temple 1 . After the successful completion of its mission, it was put in hibernation. It is still a functional craft and may be used for a future mission.
- Stardust , a mission to a collect samples from the tail of Comet 81P/Wild . It has successfully collected its samples, and returned those samples to Earth on January 15 , 2006 . The spacecraft has been put into hibernation and remains in orbit around the Sun . It is still functional and may be used for a future mission.
- CONTOUR , a mission to visit and study Comet s Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann-3. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on July 3, 2002. On August 15, contact with the craft was lost. Subsequent investigation revealed that it broke into at least three pieces, the cause likely being structural failure during the rocket motor burn that was to push it from Earth orbit into a solar orbit.
- MESSENGER , a Mercury orbiter to study and map the planet. It was launched on August 3, 2004 , and is currently en route to Mercury.
- ASPERA-3 , a NASA designed instrument designed to study the interaction between the Solar Wind and the atmosphere of Mars , and is on board the European Space Agency 's Mars Express orbiter. It was procured as a 'Discovery Mission of Opportunity', which is chance to participate in non-NASA missions by providing funding for a science instrument, hardware components of a science instrument, or expertise in critical areas of a mission.
- Kepler , a spaceborne telescope to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. It is scheduled for launch in early 2009 .
- 's Chandrayaan orbiter. It is designed to explore the moon's mineral composition at high resolution. It was procured as a 'Discovery Mission of Opportunity'.
- Dawn , a mission to study the dwarf planet Ceres and large asteroid Vesta . It is scheduled for launch in September, 2007 .
- September, 2007 : Launch of Dawn
NASA has shortlisted on October 30 2006 three concept studies for a new selection of Discovery missions {Link without Title} .
Also selected for further study are three missions of opportunity that would make new use of two NASA spacecraft that have completed their primary objectives, Deep Impact and Stardust.
The following missions were selected for concept studies:
- The Vesper mission is a Venus chemistry and dynamics orbiter that would advance our knowledge of the planet's atmospheric composition and dynamics. Gordon Chin of Goddard is Vesper's principal investigator. Goddard would manage the project. {Link without Title}
The three missions of opportunity selected for concept studies are:
- The Deep Impact eXtended Investigation of Comets ( DIXI ) mission would use the existing Deep Impact spacecraft for an extended flyby mission to a second comet, Comet Boethin , in December 2008 to take pictures of its nucleus to increase our understanding of the diversity of comets. Michael A'Hearn of the University Of Maryland , College Park, Md. , is DIXI's principal investigator.
- The Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization ( EPOCh ) mission would use the high-resolution camera on the Deep Impact spacecraft to search for the first Earth-sized planets detected around other stars. L. Drake Deming of Goddard is EPOCh's principal investigator.
- The Stardust NExT mission would use the existing Stardust spacecraft to flyby comet Tempel 1 and observe changes since the Deep Impact mission visited it in 2005. In 2005, Tempel 1 has made its closest approach to the sun, possibly changing the surface of the comet. Joseph Veverka of Cornell University , Ithaca, N.Y. , is NExT's principal investigator.
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