Arizona researchers will spend the next year helping to design planetary exploration projects that may be launched by NASA.
NASA established the Discovery program in 1992 to conduct solar system exploration at a lower cost than its larger missions. The latest projects include two missions to explore Venus and three to study asteroids. One or two of them will be selected to fly in the 2020s.
Researchers from Tucson’s Planetary Science Institute (PSI) are on three of the teams.
"Actually, PSI right now is involved in almost every one of NASA’s solar system exploration missions, and so that kind of continues our level of involvement," said Mark Sykes, PSI director.
PSI has a long history participating in Discovery class missions including the Messenger mission to Mercury and the ongoing Dawn mission.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University is leading a team that will examine the metallic asteroid Psyche, which will include a PSI scientist.
NASA will make the project selection next September.