New Frontiers program

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Header of the New Frontiers program website, as of January 2016. New Frontiers program website header, 2016.png
Header of the New Frontiers program website, as of January 2016.

The New Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted by NASA with the purpose of furthering the understanding of the Solar System. [2] The program selects medium-class missions which can provide high science returns.

Contents

NASA is encouraging both domestic and international scientists to submit mission proposals for the program. [3] New Frontiers was built on the innovative approach used by the Discovery and Explorer Programs of principal investigator-led missions. It is designed for medium-class missions that cannot be accomplished within the cost and time constraints of Discovery, but are not as large as Large Strategic Science Missions (Flagship missions).

There are currently three New Frontiers missions in progress and one in development. New Horizons , which was launched in 2006 and reached Pluto in 2015, Juno , which was launched in 2011 and entered Jupiter orbit in 2016, and OSIRIS-REx , launched in September 2016 towards asteroid Bennu for detailed studies from 2018 to 2021 and a sample return to Earth in 2023.

On June 27, 2019, Dragonfly was selected to become the fourth mission in the New Frontiers program. [4] [5]

History

Juno views Earth in October 2013 during the spacecraft's flyby en route to Jupiter Junoearthflyby.jpg
Juno views Earth in October 2013 during the spacecraft's flyby en route to Jupiter

The New Frontiers program was developed and advocated by NASA and granted by Congress in CY 2002 and 2003. This effort was led by two long-time NASA executives at headquarters at that time: Edward Weiler, Associate Administrator of Science, and Colleen Hartman, Solar System Exploration Division Director. The mission to Pluto had already been selected before this program was successfully endorsed and funded, so the mission to Pluto, called New Horizons, was "grandfathered" into the New Frontiers program. [6]

The 2003 Planetary Science Decadal Survey from the National Academy of Sciences identified destinations that then served as the source of the first competition for the New Frontiers program. The NASA program name is based on President John F. Kennedy's "New Frontier" political agenda speech in 1960, in which he constantly used the words "New Frontier" to describe a variety of social issues and noted how pioneer exploration did not end with the American West as once thought. [7] As President, Kennedy would also invest heavily in funding for NASA. [7]

Examples of proposed mission concepts include three broad groups based on Planetary Science Decadal Survey goals. [8]

Missions in progress

New Horizons (New Frontiers 1)

Nh-pluto-in-true-color 2x JPEG-edit-frame.jpg
Pluto viewed by the spacecraft New Horizons on July 14, 2015
Charon in Color (HQ).jpg
Pluto's moon Charon on July 14, 2015, imaged by "New Horizons"

New Horizons , a mission to Pluto, was launched on January 19, 2006. After a Jupiter gravity assist in February 2007 the spacecraft continued towards Pluto. The primary mission flyby occurred on July 14, 2015, and the spacecraft was then targeted toward one Kuiper Belt object called 486958 Arrokoth for a January 1, 2019 flyby. [9] [10] Another mission that was considered with this mission was New Horizons 2 . [11]

Juno (New Frontiers 2)

Artists's concept of Juno at Jupiter JUNO - PIA13746.jpg
Artists's concept of Juno at Jupiter

Juno is a Jupiter exploration mission which launched on August 5, 2011, and arrived in July 2016. It is the first solar-powered spacecraft to explore an outer planet. The craft was placed into a polar orbit in order to study the planet's magnetic field and internal structure. NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter provided extensive knowledge about its upper atmosphere, however, further study of Jupiter is crucial not only to the understanding of its origin and nature of the Solar System, but also of giant extrasolar planets in general. The Juno spacecraft investigation is intended to address the following objectives for Jupiter:

OSIRIS-REx (New Frontiers 3)

Mission logo Osiris-rex-mission-logo12 copy.png
Mission logo

OSIRIS-REx stands for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer", and was launched on 8 September 2016. [12] This mission plan was to orbit an asteroid, at the time named 1999 RQ36 (now 101955 Bennu), by 2020. After extensive measurements, the spacecraft collected a sample from the asteroid's surface for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, minus the cost of the launch vehicle ($183.5 million), is expected to cost approximately $800 million. [13] [14] The returned sample will help scientists answer long-held questions about the formation of the Solar System and the origin of complex organic molecules necessary for the origin of life. [15] [16]

Asteroid Bennu is a potential future Earth impactor and is listed on the Sentry Risk Table with the third highest rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale (circa 2015). [17] In the late 2100s there is a cumulative chance of about 0.07% it could strike Earth, therefore there is a need to measure the composition and Yarkovsky effect of the asteroid. [18]

Planned missions

Dragonfly (New Frontiers 4)

Artists concept of Dragonfly on Titan Dragonfly spacecraft.jpg
Artists concept of Dragonfly on Titan
Dragonfly Mission Insignia Dragonfly Mission Insignia.png
Dragonfly Mission Insignia

Dragonfly will send a mobile robotic rotorcraft to Saturn's biggest moon Titan [19] and will make use of Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (MMRTG) for power to navigate through the atmosphere of Titan. [3] [20] [21] The development cost cap is approximately $1 billion. [22] As of November 2023, Dragonfly is scheduled for launch in July 2028. [23]

The competition for the fourth mission began in January 2017. Per recommendation by the Decadal Survey, NASA's announcement of opportunity was limited to six mission themes: [22]

  1. Comet Surface Sample Return - a comet nucleus lander and sample return mission
  2. Lunar South Pole Sample Return - a mission to land at the Moon's South Pole–Aitken basin and return samples to Earth
  3. Ocean Worlds (Titan and/or Enceladus)
  4. Saturn Probe - an atmospheric probe
  5. Trojan Tour and Rendezvous - a mission to fly by two or more Trojan asteroids
  6. Venus Lander

NASA received and reviewed 12 proposals: [22] [24]

Comet Surface Sample Return
Lunar South Pole Sample Return
Ocean Worlds
Saturn Probe
Trojan Tour and Rendezvous
Venus Lander

Out of 12 initial proposals, NASA selected two for additional concept studies on 20 December 2017, including Dragonfly. [38]

The two finalists, CAESAR and Dragonfly, each received $4 million funding through the end of 2018 to further develop and mature their concepts. [39] On June 27, 2019, NASA announced the selection of Dragonfly as the New Frontiers 4 mission for a launch in 2026, [40] later delayed to July 2028. [23]

New Frontiers 5

The Decadal Survey recommends that two New Frontiers missions be selected per decade. The 2018 Midterm Review of the 2013–2022 Decadal Survey found that NASA was falling behind on this cadence, and recommended the release of the New Frontiers 5 Announcement of Opportunity no later than December 2021. [41] Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, responded positively to the Midterm Review's recommendation, stating that NASA was "committed to conducting two New Frontiers competitions per decade" and planned to release the Announcement of Opportunity in 2021 or 2022, [42] though the Midterm Review estimated a release date as late as 2023. [41]

The Decadal Survey recommended the Io Observer and Lunar Geophysical Network proposals for New Frontiers 5, in addition to the previous recommendations. [43]

NASA released the draft of the Announcement of Opportunity New Frontiers 5 on January 10, 2023. [44] On August 24, 2023, NASA announced that due to budgetary constraints enacted through the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the official release of the Announcement of Opportunity for New Frontiers 5 would be delayed to no earlier than 2026. [45]

See also

Notes

  1. The Lucy spacecraft will perform a similar mission. It was selected as part of the Discovery Program in January 2017, shortly before the New Frontiers 4 call for proposals.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space exploration</span> Exploration of space, planets, and moons

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lander (spacecraft)</span> Type of spacecraft

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery Program</span> Ongoing solar system exploration program by NASA

The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's New Frontiers or Flagship Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariner Mark II</span> Planned family of uncrewed NASA spacecraft

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar and Planetary Laboratory</span> Lab at University of Arizona

The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) is a research center for planetary science located in Tucson, Arizona. It is also a graduate school, constituting the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. LPL is one of the world's largest programs dedicated exclusively to planetary science in a university setting. The Lunar and Planetary Lab collection is held at the University of Arizona Special Collections Library.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery and exploration of the Solar System</span>

Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth's "cosmic neighborhood". This includes the Sun, Earth and the Moon, the major planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, their satellites, as well as smaller bodies including comets, asteroids, and dust.

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<i>Planetary Science Decadal Survey</i> Publication of the United States National Research Council

The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a serial publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation. The documents identify key questions facing planetary science and outlines recommendations for space and ground-based exploration ten years into the future. Missions to gather data to answer these big questions are described and prioritized, where appropriate. Similar decadal surveys cover astronomy and astrophysics, earth science, and heliophysics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the Solar System</span> Overview of and topical guide to the Solar System

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Journey to Enceladus and Titan (JET) is an astrobiology mission concept to assess the habitability potential of Enceladus and Titan, moons of Saturn.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oceanus (Titan orbiter)</span>

Oceanus is a NASA/JPL orbiter mission concept proposed in 2017 for the New Frontiers mission #4, but it was not selected for development. If selected at some future opportunity, Oceanus would travel to Saturn's moon Titan to assess its habitability. Studying Titan would help understand the early Earth and exoplanets which orbit other stars. The mission is named after Oceanus, the Greek god of oceans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability</span> Astrobiology concept mission

Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (ELSAH) is an astrobiology concept mission proposed in 2017 to NASA's New Frontiers program to send a spacecraft to Enceladus to search for biosignatures and assess its habitability. The Principal Investigator is Christopher P. McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, and the managing NASA center is Goddard Space Flight Center. No details of the mission have been made public, but observers speculate that it would be a plume-sampling orbiter mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean Worlds Exploration Program</span> NASA program for the exploration of water worlds in the Solar System

The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is a NASA program to explore ocean worlds in the outer Solar System that could possess subsurface oceans to assess their habitability and to seek biosignatures of simple extraterrestrial life.

CAESAR (spacecraft) Proposed sample-return mission to a comet

CAESAR is a sample-return mission concept to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The mission was proposed in 2017 to NASA's New Frontiers program mission 4, and on 20 December 2017 it was one of two finalists selected for further concept development. On 27 June 2019, the other finalist, the Dragonfly mission, was chosen instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetary Missions Program Office</span> Division of NASA responsible for the Discovery, New Frontiers, and Solar System Exploration programs

The Planetary Missions Program Office is a division of NASA headquartered at the Marshall Space Flight Center, formed by the agency's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Succeeding the Discovery and New Frontiers Program Office, it was established in 2014 to manage the Discovery and New Frontiers programs of low and medium-cost missions by third-party institutions, and the Solar System Exploration program of NASA-led missions that focus on prioritized planetary science objectives. The Discovery and New Frontiers programs were established in 1992 and 2001 respectively, and have launched fourteen primary missions together, along with two missions launched under the administration of the Planetary Missions Program Office. The Solar System Exploration Program was established alongside the office, with three missions planned for launch under the new program.

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