What are competed planetary missions?

Competed missions traditionally price much less and fly extra incessantly than NASA’s high-profile flagship missions, which usually price upwards of $2 billion and fly as soon as per decade. NASA makes an attempt to fly 5 Discovery-class missions and two New Frontiers missions each decade (congressional budgets allowing), with a $500 million price cap on Discovery and a $900 million price cap on New Frontiers. These price caps are designed to restrict NASA’s publicity to price overruns, enabling extra missions and permitting for extra novel, higher-risk designs.

Additionally distinct is the political authority granted to NASA to pursue competed missions. Flagship missions symbolize the company’s prime scientific priorities, are assigned to a main NASA middle for implementation, after which should safe a funding dedication from the White Home’s budgeting workplace and procure a “new begin” approval by Congress. Solely then can NASA start making long-term contracts and commitments mandatory to construct a big and complicated spacecraft. In distinction, Discovery and New Frontiers missions are pre-authorized by Congress; NASA can choose missions inside these lessons as incessantly as funding permits. In idea, this supplies extra fast improvement alternatives.

Competed planetary missions are science-focused and scientist-led. That is once more distinct from flagship-class missions, which, whereas science-focused, are led by an current NASA middle. Competed missions are led by Principal Investigators (PIs) who assemble each a science and engineering workforce to submit an in depth proposal to the area company for the kind of mission they’d wish to pursue. The scientific payload and workforce are proposed wholistically by the very people who will then implement the mission. This elevates scientific management to the highest of the decision-making course of and customarily results in a extra copacetic (albeit smaller) science workforce.