ThePlanetary Missions Program Office is a division ofNASA headquartered at theMarshall Space Flight Center, formed by the agency'sScience Mission Directorate (SMD). Succeeding theDiscovery and New Frontiers Program Office, it was established in 2014 to manage theDiscovery andNew Frontiers programs of low and medium-cost missions by third-party institutions, and theSolar System Exploration program ofNASA-led missions that focus on prioritized planetary science objectives. The Discovery andNew 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. TheSolar System Exploration Program was established alongside the office, with three missions planned for launch under the new program.
The Discovery program was established in late 1990 as a program of low-cost, limited-scopeSolar System exploration missions, succeeding the objectives of thePlanetary Observer program.[6] In the late 1980s, leaders at NASA opted towards expensive, more ambitious missions to advance their objectives. This included theSpace Exploration Initiative by theGeorge H. W. Bush administration, which laid out a plan to constructSpace Station Freedom and establish a human exploration program to the Moon andMars.[7] Consistent cost overruns and lack of support from the United States Congress, however, created a trend towards smaller, less ambitious missions.[7][8] NASA's Solar System Exploration Division (SSED) initially proposed to model a new program of small-class unmanned missions after the Planetary Observer program, though members were skeptical, due to the budget problems plaguing the Planetary Observer program at the time.[6] It was decided instead to base it on theExplorer program, following advice from Explorer administrative stafferTom Krimigis.[6] Under this model, the program gained support from then-NASA AdministratorDaniel S. Goldin, and the program was formally approved by Congress in 1992.[6][8]
NEAR Shoemaker (left) andMars Pathfinder (right), the founding missions of the Discovery program, exemplifying its roster of low-cost, specialized missions
Originally a Planetary Observer program mission,NEAR Shoemaker was reassigned to the Discovery program, after theJet Propulsion Laboratory and theApplied Physics Laboratory found that the mission was possible to execute on a budget smaller than originally planned.[6] Its final mission cost would reach US$224 million.[9]Mars Pathfinder was also reassigned to the program as part of cuts to the Space Exploration InitiativeMars Environmental Survey (MESUR) program, following the loss of its flagshipMars Observer.[10][11] BothNEAR Shoemaker andMars Pathfinder were successfully launched in February and December 1996 respectively;[12][13][14] the former achieved orbit around the asteroid433 Eros in February 2000,[13] and the latter landed on Mars and delivered the first operationalMars rover,Sojourner, to the surface of the planet in July 1997.[14] AfterNEAR Shoemaker andMars Pathfinder, the Discovery program began selecting its future missions from proposals from third-party institutions, in competitions named "Announcements of Opportunity" (AOs).[15][16] Twelve missions have been selected through AOs, with the latest, reconnaissance missionsLucy andPsyche, selected in January 2017 after athree-year long competition.[17][18][19] The Discovery program also presides over "Missions of Opportunity" (MOs) to develop instruments for non-NASA missions, such as theASPERA-3 instrument onboardESA'sMars Express and theM3 instrument aboardISRO'sChandrayaan-1.[20] MOs were originally selected in competitions alongside AOs,[21] though have been selected in "Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notices" (SALMONs) since 2009.[22] SALMON-3 is currently underway to select NASA's contribution toJAXA'sMartian Moons Exploration mission.[23]
New Horizons survived the cancellation of the Outer Planet/Solar Probe program to become the founding mission of the New Frontiers program
The New Frontiers program is the successor to the cancelled Outer Planet/Solar Probe (OPSP) program, a project which aimed to launch theEuropa Orbiter astrobiology mission, thePluto Kuiper Express reconnaissance mission, and theSolar Orbiter heliophysics mission.[38][39] To reduce the growing costs of the OPSP, thePluto Kuiper Express was cancelled in 2000 by then-Science Mission DirectorateEdward J. Weiler, who subsequently accepted proposals for a replacement mission and modelled the competition after the Discovery program's AOs.[40][41] TheNew Horizons mission was chosen to replacePluto Kuiper Express in the OPSP program in November 2001,[42][43] though the entire program, including theEuropa Orbiter,New Horizons, andSolar Probe, was cancelled byAdministrator of NASASean O'Keefe in February 2002, shortly after his appointment by PresidentGeorge W. Bush. O'Keefe cited a need for a restructuring of NASA and its projects, falling in line with the Bush Administration's wish for NASA to refocus on "research and development, and addressing management shortcomings."[44]
TheNew Horizons team successfully lobbied for the funding and development of their mission, appearing at the top of theNational Research Council'sPlanetary Science Decadal Survey for 2003–2013.[40][41] Weiler and then-Solar System Exploration Division DirectorColleen Hartman established the New Frontiers program in 2003 to help fund and launchNew Horizons and future proposals from the Decadal Survey.[41]New Horizons was launched as the program's first mission on January 20, 2006,[45][46] and successfully performed the first reconnaissance ofPluto andits moons in July 2015.[47][48][49] An extended mission is underway to observe Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), including a flyby of486958 Arrokoth in January 2019.[50][51] In the first New Frontiers AO,Juno, a mission to investigate the interior ofJupiter, was selected over theMoonRise lunar sample return mission.[52][53][54][55]Juno launched on August 5, 2011, and arrived at Jupiter in July 2016.[56][57] In May 2011, theOSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission was selected overMoonRise andSAGE for the program's third mission.[58][59]OSIRIS-REx launched on September 8, 2016, and will arrive at theNear-Earth object (NEO)101955 Bennu in August 2018.[60][61][62] The program's fourth mission isDragonfly, which will launch in 2028 and arrive onTitan in the mid-2030s.[63]
Europa Clipper, one of the first missions of the Solar System Exploration program
In late 2014, the Solar System Exploration program was established alongside the Planetary Missions Program Office to "execute prioritized planetary science."[1][3] The first mission of the program isDART, anasteroid deflection test targeting65803 Didymos that launched in 2021.[5][65][66] Originally a component ofAIDA,DART's impact was intended to be observed by ESA'sAIM orbiter, which would continue to study Didymos from orbit.[67][68] However, the ESA Council at ministerial level cancelled theAIM mission in favour of funding for theExoMars 2020 rover, citing budget concerns.[69][70] Despite the cancellation ofAIM, NASA committed to their original plan, opting to continue solely withDART.[5] DART successfully impactedDimorphos, the moon of asteroid65803 Didymos, on September 26, 2022.[71] TwoEuropa astrobiology missions are scheduled in the Solar System Exploration program. TheEuropa Clipper was launched on October 14, 2024, on a SpaceXFalcon Heavy.[72][73][74] The ESAJUICE mission to study Europa,Ganymede, andCallisto will use the NASA-built, Solar System Exploration Program-funded Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) and parts of the Particle Environment Package (PEP) and Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) instruments.[75][76]
^abRumerman, Judy A. (2009)."4"(PDF).NASA Historical Data Book Volume VII – NASA Launch Systems, Space Transportation / Human Spaceflight, and Space Science 1989–1998. Washington, D.C.:NASA History Office. pp. 576, 577.ISBN978-0-16-080501-1. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on February 26, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2018.
^Portree, David S. F. (October 13, 2012)."Measuring Mars: the MESUR Network Mission (1991)".Wired.Condé Nast Inc. Archived fromthe original on February 26, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2018.In 1994, in the wake of the Mars Observer failure, NASA funded the Mars Surveyor Program in place of MESUR Network. Work continued on Pathfinder in NASA's low-cost Discovery Program, however, and it landed successfully on Mars on July 4, 1997.
^McCurdy, Howard E. (2001). "5".Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program.Baltimore, Maryland:The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 62.ISBN0-8018-6720-7. Archived fromthe original on February 26, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2018....exploration advocates believed that MarsPathfinder would be the first in a series of small, inexpensive monitoring stations that NASA would spread across Mars. Advocates of one leading concept, called Mars Environmental Survey (MESUR), envisioned a network of 16 monitoring stations around the red planet. MESUR was eventually canceled in favor of alternative endeavors...
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