Header of the New Frontiers program website as of January 2016[1]
TheNew Frontiers program is a series of space exploration missions being conducted byNASA with the purpose of furthering the understanding of theSolar System.[2] The program selects medium-class missions which can provide high science returns.
NASA is encouraging both domestic and internationalscientists to submit mission proposals for the program.[3] New Frontiers was built on the innovative approach used by theDiscovery andExplorer Programs ofprincipal 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 asLarge 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, andOSIRIS-REx, launched in September 2016 towards asteroidBennu 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]
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, andColleen 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, calledNew Horizons, was "grandfathered" into the New Frontiers program.[6]
The 2003Planetary 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 howpioneer exploration did not end with the American West as once thought.[7] As President, Kennedy would also invest heavily in funding for NASA.[7]
New Horizons, a mission toPluto, was launched on January 19, 2006. After aJupitergravity 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 oneKuiper Belt object called486958 Arrokoth for a January 1, 2019 flyby.[9][10] Another mission that was considered with this mission wasNew Horizons 2.[11]
Juno is aJupiter 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 apolar orbit in order to study the planet'smagnetic field and internal structure.NASA'sGalileo 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 giantextrasolar planets in general. TheJuno spacecraft investigation is intended to address the following objectives for Jupiter:
Understand Jupiter's gross dynamical and structural properties through determination of the mass and size of Jupiter's core, its gravitational and magnetic fields, and internal convection;
Measure the Jovian atmospheric composition, particularly the condensable-gas abundances (H2O, NH3, CH4 and H2S), the Jovian atmospheric temperature profile, wind velocity profile, and cloud opacity to greater depths than achieved by theGalileo entry probe with a goal of 100bar at multiple latitudes; and
Investigate and characterize the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere.
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 named1999 RQ36 (now101955 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 theformation of the Solar System and the origin of complexorganic molecules necessary for theorigin of life.[15][16]
Asteroid Bennu is a potential future Earth impactor and is listed on theSentry Risk Table with the third highest rating on thePalermo 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 andYarkovsky effect of the asteroid.[18]
The competition for the fourth mission began in January 2017. NASA's announcement of opportunity was limited to six mission themes: five recommended by the 2011 Decadal Survey, and a sixth, "Ocean Worlds" that encompassed either Titan or Enceladus related missions that had not been included in the survey's recommendations:[22]
Out of 12 initial proposals, NASA selected two for additional concept studies on 20 December 2017, includingDragonfly.[38]
The two finalists,CAESAR andDragonfly, 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 ofDragonfly as the New Frontiers 4 mission for a launch in 2026,[40] later delayed to July 2028.[23]
In 2011, thePlanetary Science Decadal SurveyVisions and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013 – 2022, recommended that two New Frontiers missions be selected per decade, with the 2013-2022 period to contain the selection of New Frontiers 4 and 5. The 2011 Survey recommended that for New Frontiers 5, any candidate mission themes remaining from its list for New Frontiers 4 carry forward, and two further candidate themes be added, Io Observer and Lunar Geophysical Network.[41] With the addition of the Ocean Worlds theme following the 2011 survey and the selection of Dragonfly as NF-4 in 2019, this left the list of eligible themes for NF-5 as:
Comet Surface Sample Return
Io Observer
Lunar Geophysical Network
Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return
Ocean Worlds (only Enceladus);
Saturn Probe; and
Venus In-Situ Explorer
The 2018 Midterm Review of the 2013–2022 Decadal Survey found that NASA was falling behind on the two-mission-per-decade cadence, and recommended the release of the New Frontiers 5 Announcement of Opportunity no later than December 2021.[42]Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for theScience 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,[43] though the Midterm Review estimated a release date as late as 2023.[42]
The successor planetary science Decadal Survey,Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 was released in April 2022. It recommended mission themes forNew Frontiers 6 and New Frontiers 7, under the premise that New Frontiers 5 would be selected shortly thereafter based on the 2011 Decadal Survey's candidate list. The report noted the decadal survey process had begun when it was assumed New Frontiers 5 would be selected in 2021, and the "committee membership was not designed nor vetted to provide impartial findings and recommendations on NF-5."[44]
NASA released the draft of the Announcement of Opportunity New Frontiers 5 on January 10, 2023.[45] On August 24, 2023, NASA announced that due to budgetary constraints enacted through theFiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the official release of the Announcement of Opportunity for New Frontiers 5 would be delayed to no earlier than 2026.[46]
The further delay in New Frontiers 5 selection caused the New Frontiers 5 timeframe to now overlap with the timeframe previously expected for New Frontiers 6, and raised questions about whether the recommendations of the 2011 or 2022 Decadal Surveys ought to drive the mission selection priorities. NASA requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine investigate and report on any scientific, programmatic, and technological advances that have a significant impact on the mission themes prioritized for the New Frontiers 5 selection. On February 25, 2025 a Consensus Study Report was released recommending a revised list of eligible mission themes for New Frontiers 5 that proposed removing two themes from the original list (Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return, citing overlapping objectives with theEndurance-A mission; and Venus In-Situ Explorer, citing programmatic balance given theDAVINCI,VERITAS andEnVision missions) and pulling forward two themes from the New Frontiers 6 list (Centaur Orbiter and Lander and Ceres Sample Return), leaving the following recommended eligible themes for New Frontiers 5:[47]
New Frontiers 6 is expected to continue to use the 2022 Decadal Survey theme list. Relative to the recommended revised New Frontiers 5 theme list, this would add two further missions themes not endorsed for earlier launch due to relatively contemporaneous missions to Titan and Venus and exclude what may be selected for New Frontiers 5:[48]
Centaur Orbiter and Lander
Ceres Sample Return
Comet Surface Sample Return
Enceladus Multiple Flyby
Lunar Geophysical Network;
Saturn Probe;
Titan Orbiter; and
Venus In-Situ Explorer
New Frontiers 7 is also anticipated to continue to use the 2022 Decadal Survey theme list, consisting of any of the New Frontiers 6 candidate themes not selected in New Frontiers 5 or 6, with the addition of a "Triton Ocean Worlds Surveyor" mission theme.[48] However, given NASA's reduced cadence it is possible that another Decadal Survey will have been completed by the time the mission selection process begins.
^TheLucy spacecraft will perform a similar mission. It was selected as part of theDiscovery Program in January 2017, shortly before the New Frontiers 4 call for proposals.
^VICI: Venus In situ Composition Investigations. (PDF) L. Glaze, J. Garvin, N. Johnson, G. Arney, D. Atkinson, S. Atreya, A. Beck, B. Bezard, J. Blacksberg, B. Campbell, S. Clegg, D. Crisp, D. Dyar, F. Forget, M. Gilmore, D. Grinspoon,Juliane Gross, S. Guzewich, N. Izenberg, J. Johnson, W. Kiefer, D. Lawrence, S. Lebonnois, R. Lorenz, P. Mahaffy, S. Maurice, M. McCanta, A. Parsons, A. Pavlov, S. Sharma, M. Trainer, C. Webster, R. Wiens, K. Zahnle, M. Zolotov. EPSC Abstracts, Vol. 11, EPSC2017-346, 2017. European Planetary Science Congress 2017.
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