[1] 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 researching several of the Solar System bodies, including the dwarf planet Pluto.

NASA is encouraging both domestic and international scientists to submit mission proposals for the program.[2] 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: 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.

History [ edit ]

Juno views Earth in October 2013 during the spacecraft's flyby en route to Jupiter 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. 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 program name was selected by Hartman based on President John F. Kennedy's speech in 1960, in which he said "We stand, today, on the edge of a New Frontier."

Examples of proposed mission concepts include two broad groups based on Planetary Science Decadal Survey goals.[3]

Missions in progress [ edit ]

New Horizons (New Frontiers 1) [ edit ]

New Horizons on July 14, 2015 Pluto viewed by the New Frontiers spacecrafton July 14, 2015 Pluto's moon Charon on July 14, 2015 by that spacecraft

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 in July 2015 and the spacecraft was then targeted toward one Kuiper Belt object called (486958) 2014 MU69 for a January 1, 2019 flyby. Another mission that was considered with this mission was New Horizons 2.

Juno (New Frontiers 2) [ edit ]

Juno at Jupiter Artists's concept ofat 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:

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 (H 2 O, NH 3 , CH 4 and H 2 S), the Jovian atmospheric temperature profile, wind velocity profile, and cloud opacity to greater depths than achieved by the Galileo entry probe with a goal of 100 bar at multiple latitudes; and

O, NH , CH and H S), the Jovian atmospheric temperature profile, wind velocity profile, and cloud opacity to greater depths than achieved by the entry probe with a goal of 100 bar at multiple latitudes; and Investigate and characterize the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere.

OSIRIS-REx (New Frontiers 3) [ edit ]

Mission logo

OSIRIS-REx stands for "Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer", and was launched on 8 September 2016.[4] This mission plan is to orbit an asteroid, at the time named 1999 RQ 36 (now 101955 Bennu), by 2020. After extensive measurements, the spacecraft will collect a sample from the asteroid's surface for return to Earth in 2023. The mission, excluding the launch vehicle, is expected to cost approximately $800 million. 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.

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).[5] 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.[6]

Fourth mission [ edit ]

Concept art for a New Frontiers class lunar sample return mission

Competition for the fourth mission began in January 2017. NASA selected two[7] proposals for additional concept studies on December 20, 2017, will select a winner in the competition in 2019, and launch it by 2024.[2][8][9] Investigators may propose the use of Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (MMRTG), and the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion propulsion system.[9] The development cost cap is approximately $1 billion.[10]

Per recommendation by the Decadal Survey, NASA's announcement of opportunity was limited to six mission themes:[10]

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

The Decadal Survey recommended the Io Observer and Lunar Geophysical Network proposals for New Frontiers 5, in addition to the previous recommendations.[11] NASA's Planetary Science Division responded to the Decadal Survey with support, stating that the recommendations appear well-aligned with the agency's goals.[12]

Submitted mission concepts [ edit ]

NASA received and reviewed 12 proposals:[10][13]

Comet Surface Sample Return

Lunar South Pole Sample Return

MoonRise, a sample return mission to explore the lunar South Pole–Aitken basin

Ocean Worlds

Saturn Probe

Saturn PRobe Interior and aTmosphere Explorer (SPRITE), an atmospheric probe to investigate Saturn's atmosphere and composition.[23]

Trojan Tour and Rendezvous

None

Venus Lander

Finalists [ edit ]

The two finalists, announced on 20 December 2017, are Dragonfly, which would send a mobile robotic rotorcraft to Saturn's moon Titan [17], and CAESAR (Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return), which would be a sample-return mission from comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko;[27] CAESAR was proposed by the Cornell University. Comet 67P was previously explored by the European Space Agency's probe Rosetta and its lander Philae during 2014-2015.

The two proposals will each receive $4 million funding through the end of 2018 to further develop and mature their concepts.[28] NASA will decide in mid-2019 which one of the two to build.[28]

See also [ edit ]

Cosmic Vision, ESA program that has several mission classes