NASA Discovery Program

NASA's Discovery Program is a series of lower-cost, highly focused scientific space missions. It gives scientists the opportunity to dig deep into their imaginations and find innovative ways to unlock the mysteries of the solar system. It represents a breakthrough in the way NASA explores space, with lower-cost, highly focused planetary science investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.

NASA Discovery Program Picture

All completed Discovery missions have achieved ground-breaking science within strict cost and schedule limitations, each taking a unique approach to space exploration. It was founded to implement NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's vision of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary missions.

Ten missions have been chosen for the Discovery Program to date.

1. Near Shoemaker (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) was the first Discovery Program spacecraft to be launched. It was launched on February 17, 1996. It was also the first spacecraft ever to orbit an asteroid.

2. The Mars Pathfinder Mission is complete. The mission demonstrated a low cost method of delivering a set of science instruments and the Rover to the surface of Mars.

3. Lunar Prospector. The science data returned from Lunar Prospector has enabled scientists to create detailed maps of the gravity, magnetic properties and chemical composition of the Moon's entire surface.

4. The Stardust spacecraft collected comet dust and interstellar dust during a close encounter with Comet Wild 2 and return the particles to Earth for analysis by scientists worldwide.

5. In January 2001, the Genesis spacecraft will journey a million miles sunward, unfold its collectors and "sunbathe" for two years, before returning in August 2003.

6. The Comet Nucleus Tour, or CONTOUR, mission was timed to encounter and study two diverse comets Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 as they made their periodic visits to the inner solar system. CONTOUR was launched from Cape Canaveral on July 3, 2002. On August 15, contact with the craft was lost.

7. MESSENGER, (MErcury: Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) mission is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury. It is on its way to Mercury.

8. Deep Impact: The Deep Impact Mission will propel a large copper projectile into the surface of a comet called Comet Tempel 1, creating a huge crater on July 4, 2005 The copper projectile weighs 370 kilogram.

9. Dawn Spacecraft will be launched in September 2007 and will map the asteroid Vesta in the years 2010 and 2011. It will then head for Ceres in 2014-2015.

10. Kepler Space Telescope will be launched in 2009. The telescope will 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.

On 30 October 2006, NASA announced that three missions were selected for concept studies and evaluation for the Discovery program:
- OSIRIS, a mission to return asteroid surface samples
- Vesper, a mission to study the atmosphere of Venus
- GRAIL, a mission to studt the gravity field and interior of the Moon

Three missions of opportunity were also selected for further study:
- DIXI, use of the Deep Impact spacecraft for an extended flyby of another comet
- EPOCh, use of the high-resolution camera on Deep Impact to look for extrasolar planets
- NExT, use of the Stardust spacecraft to fly by Comet Tempel 1

NASA Discovery Program Links:

Nasa Discover Program:

Goto Space Exploration

Goto Space Projects and Info Home Page