NASA scientists want to send small, low-cost space probes to study Venus, near-Earth objects, 16 Psyche and other asteroids.
Artist’s concept of NASA’s VERITAS spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
In 2014, NASA’s Discovery Program invited agency’s scientists to submit proposals for spaceflight investigations. More than two dozens of proposals were received and, of those, five finalists were selected by NASA panel.
“The selected investigations have the potential to reveal much about the formation of the Solar System and its dynamic processes,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
“Dynamic and exciting missions like these hold promise to unravel the mysteries of our Solar System and inspire future generations of explorers. It’s an incredible time for science, and NASA is leading the way.”
The five finalists are DAVINCI, Lucy, NEOCam, Psyche and VERITAS:
DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging): this mission would study the chemical composition of Venus’ atmosphere during a 63-minute descent. It would answer scientific questions that have been considered high priorities for many years, such as whether there are volcanoes active today on the surface of Venus and how the surface interacts with the atmosphere of the planet.
Lucy: the mission would perform the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, objects thought to hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the Solar System.
NEOCam (Near Earth Object Camera): this mission would discover ten times more near-Earth objects (NEOs) than all NEOs discovered to date. It would also begin to characterize them.
Psyche: this mission would explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid Psyche. This object is one of the ten most-massive asteroids in the main asteroid belt. It’s likely the survivor of a violent hit-and-run with another object that stripped off the outer, rocky layers of a protoplanet.
VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission): the mission would produce global, high-resolution topography and imaging of Venus’ surface and produce the first maps of deformation and global surface composition.
NASA will make the final selections by September 2016 for continued development leading up to launch.
