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Artykuły o Discovery program
« dnia: Luty 15, 2020, 18:29 »
NASA selects two asteroid missions for Discovery program
by Jeff Foust — January 4, 2017 [SN]


NASA's Lucy mission (left) will visit a series of Trojan asteroids while Psyche (right) will visit a metallic asteroid of the same name. Credit: SwRI and SSL/Peter Rubin

GRAPEVINE, Texas — NASA has selected two missions to asteroids in the latest round of its Discovery planetary science program, a move that NASA says puts the program back on track after a recent drought of missions.

NASA announced Jan. 4 that it has selected Lucy and Psyche for launch in the early 2020s. Each mission has a cost cap of $450 million, although NASA did not disclose the estimated costs of the individual missions.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-two-asteroid-missions-for-discovery-program/

NASA selects four finalists for next Discovery mission
by Jeff Foust — February 14, 2020 [SN]


The VERITAS Venus orbiter mission, seen above in a version proposed in the prior round of the Discovery program, is one of the four finalists for the latest round of NASA's program of low-cost planetary science missions. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — NASA is considering missions to Venus and two outer solar system moons as the next in its Discovery line of planetary science missions.

NASA announced Feb. 13 it selected four finalists in the next round of the Discovery program from an unspecified number of proposals submitted last summer. Each of the mission proposals will receive $3 million for what are known as Phase A concept studies to be completed in nine months. NASA will select up to two of the missions for development in 2021.

“These selected missions have the potential to transform our understanding of some of the solar system’s most active and complex worlds,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, in an agency statement about the selections.

Two of the finalists would go to Venus, a planet last visited by NASA with a dedicated mission by the Magellan orbiter in the early 1990s. The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus, or DAVINCI+, mission includes an orbiter and a probe that would descend through the planet’s dense atmosphere to measure its composition. Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy, or VERITAS, is a Venus orbiter that would map the surface using a synthetic aperture radar and also link infrared emissions from the surface to geological features.

The other two proposed missions seek to study moons in the outer solar system. Io Volcano Observer (IVO) would perform a series of close flybys of Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s four large moons and the most volcanically active body in the solar system, to monitor that volcanic activity. Trident would make a single close flyby of Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, which has plumes erupting from its surface that could be linked to a subsurface ocean.

Discovery is NASA’s line of relatively low-cost planetary science missions, less expensive than New Frontiers or flagship-class spacecraft. Missions selected in this round of the Discovery program would have a cost cap, excluding launch and operations, of $500 million. Those missions would launch in one of two windows, one from January 2025 through December 2026 and the other from July 2028 through December 2029.

Earlier in the Discovery program, NASA selected one mission at a time, but in the previous round of the program that concluded in early 2017 decided to select two. NASA spaced out the competitions in part to address the time and expense scientists incur developing proposals, while selecting multiple missions at a time to maintain an average of one mission every 24 months.

In that last Discovery competition, versions of both DAVINCI+ (then known as DAVINCI) and VERITAS were two of five finalists. NASA, though, selected two asteroid missions, Lucy and Psyche, for development, while providing additional funding for a third, NEOCam, to support development of its instrument to search for near Earth objects (NEOs). Lucy and Psyche remain on schedule for launches in October 2021 and 2022 respectively, while NEOCam has evolved to the NEO Surveillance Mission, a directed mission that will not compete with other science missions.

Suzanne Smrekar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was the principal investigator on the earlier VERITAS mission proposal, is again leading the new VERITAS proposal. DAVINCI+ has Jim Garvin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as its principal investigator. Lori Glaze, who led the earlier DAVINCI mission proposal, is now the director of NASA’s planetary science division.


Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-four-finalists-for-next-discovery-mission/
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Odp: [SN] NASA selects four finalists for next Discovery mission
« Odpowiedź #1 dnia: Luty 15, 2020, 18:30 »
NASA to assess proposals for probes to Venus, moons of Jupiter and Neptune
February 13, 2020 Stephen Clark [SFN]


Artist’s concept of the solar system. Credit: NASA

NASA announced Thursday it will fund four concept studies for potential robotic missions to Venus, Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s moon Triton ahead of a decision next year to approve up to two of the projects for launch in the mid-to-late 2020s.

The space agency chose the four mission concepts as semi-finalists from more than a dozen proposals submitted by U.S. scientists last year. NASA plans to select up to two of the final four proposals in 2021 to proceed into full development for a pair of launch opportunities in 2025 or 2026 and 2028 or 2029.

Two of the missions concepts selected by NASA Thursday would explore Venus, Earth’s hellish twin with a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, clouds of sulfuric acid and scorching surface temperatures as hot as 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius).

NASA has not launched a mission to Venus since 1989, when the Magellan radar mapper set off from Earth to peer beneath Venus’s thick clouds and map the planet’s volcanic landscape for the first time.

Another mission approved for further study was the Io Volcano Observer, or IVO, a spacecraft that would orbit Jupiter and pass near the moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

And NASA selected Trident — a flyby probe targeting Neptune’s moon Triton — for a detailed concept study. Trident would follow up on observations made by NASA’s Voyager 2 mission in 1989, which revealed Triton — nearly as big as Earth’s moon — harbors geyser-like plumes erupting from its icy surface.

“These selected missions have the potential to transform our understanding of some of the solar system’s most active and complex worlds,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s science mission directorate. “Exploring any one of these celestial bodies will help unlock the secrets of how it, and others like it, came to be in the cosmos.”

Each of the mission teams will receive $3 million to perform detailed nine-month studies to mature their concepts and present a report to NASA Headquarters. NASA officials will review the reports and select up to two of the four concepts for development.

The four would-be space missions are vying to become the next two projects in NASA’s Discovery line of cost-capped planetary science missions. NASA solicited proposals last year, and the missions must fit under a $500 million cost cap, excluding launch costs and international contributions.

Here are the four missions selected by NASA:


- DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus)

- Io Volcano Observer (IVO)

- Trident

- VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy)

The DAVINCI+, VERITAS and Io Volcano Observer mission concepts are based on proposals submitted to NASA during past Discovery selection rounds. Trident is a new concept made possible by NASA’s decision to allow scientists to propose using plutonium power generators on Discovery-class probes, enabling budget missions to the outer solar system for the first time.

Previous Discovery-class missions included the Dawn spacecraft, which orbited two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, the Messenger mission to Mercury, and the InSight lander currently listening for seismic activity on Mars. Two Discovery missions selected in 2017 — named Lucy and Psyche — are scheduled for launch in 2021 and 2022 to begin missions focused on asteroid exploration.

DAVINCI+ and VERITAS are competing to become NASA’s first mission to Venus in more than 30 years.

Led by Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the DAVINCI+ mission would send a descent probe into the atmosphere of Venus to precisely measure its composition down to the surface, according to NASA. The data will help scientists understand how the atmosphere formed and evolved, and help determine whether Venus ever had an ocean.



Credit: Artist’s concept of the atmospheric entry probe for the previous proposal for the DAVINCI mission. Credit: NASA/Goddard

A hardened “sphere” will carry the instruments to the surface of Venus, measuring atmospheric composition and conditions at various altitudes throughout a gradual hour-long descent. Cameras on the descent sphere and an orbiter component to the mission will map surface rock types, according to NASA.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center would manage the mission, and Lockheed Martin would oversee assembly of the DAVINCI+ spacecraft.

“DAVINCI+ is a mission all about a chemistry lab and an orbiter to put venus into its appropriate context in our solar system, so we can compare Venus, Earth and Mars,” Garvin said in a video overview of the mission concept. “And what DAVINCI+ will do scientifically is measure the chemical composition of the entire atmosphere from top to bottom, while imaging the surface in places where rugged mountains exist that are one of the enigmas in our solar system.”

The last U.S.-led mission to send a probe into the atmosphere of Venus was Pioneer Venus in 1978. The Soviet Union’s Vega missions were the last to plunge deep into Venus’s atmosphere in 1985.

“For me, Venus is a very personal thing because I’ve been exploring Venus for 40 years, and now It’s Venus’s time, and we want get back with DAVINCI+ to learn where Venus fits,” Garvin said.

The other Venus mission concept, named VERITAS, would carry a synthetic aperture radar instrument on an orbiting spacecraft to survey the planet’s surface over nearly the entire planet, according to NASA.

“We are designing mission to explore a lost, habitable world,” said Suzanne Smrekar, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California who is principal investigator on the VERITAS proposal. “Venus is Earth’s twin. It started out with the same size, same composition, but it evolved into an extremely inhospitable place. We want to understand how these two rocky planets went down different paths.

“We’re going to be doing things like looking for the surface rock-type, making the first-ever map of the composition of the surface,” Smrekar said. “We’re going to determine where there’s basalt and look for the presence of granite, which is super important for revealing the history of water on Venus. We’re even going look for water coming out of the planet. We’re going to look for and search for geologic activity and help understand its overall geologic evolution.”



Artist’s concept of the VERITAS spacecraft at Venus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The VERITAS mission would be managed at JPL, and the spacecraft bus would be manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The German, French and Italian space agencies would partner with NASA on the VERITAS mission, assuming it is selected for development.

The Io Volcano Observer mission would launch toward Jupiter, using gravity assist flybys with Earth and Mars to reach the solar system’s largest planet, according to Alfred McEwen, principal investigator on the IVO mission from the University of Arizona.

“IVO, if it goes forward, will launch later this decade, arrive at Jupiter four or five years later, orbit Jupiter, (and) will make 10 close flybys of the insanely active moon Io,” McEwen said. “Io may have a magma ocean (in its interior), and this is really important because magma oceans were key to the early development of all of the inner planets, including the earth and the moon, as well ase exoplanets. So studying a present day magma ocean would be a major advance.”

With more than 400 volcanoes that can spew plumes of gas as high as 300 miles (500 kilometers) above its surface, Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. The strong tug of gravity from nearby Jupiter liquifies Io’s insides through tidal forces, pulling material from one side of the moon to the other similar to tidal effects on Earth’s oceans.



NASA’s Galileo spacecraft caught Jupiter’s moon Io, the planet’s third-largest moon, undergoing a volcanic eruption in 1997. Credit: NASA

“We will, of course, monitor the spectacular active volcanism with eruptions larger than any seen on Earth since we had mass extinctions,” McEwen said. “Fortunately, we can watch that from a distance.”

The Io Volcano Observer spacecraft would be built and managed at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which previously oversaw construction of NASA’s New Horizons deep space explorer and Parker Solar Probe.

Other partners on the IVO mission include the U.S. Geological Survey, UCLA, the German space agency, and the University of Bern in Switzerland.

The Trident mission to Neptune’s moon Triton would be enabled by a plutonium power source and a speedy trajectory to boost the spacecraft from Earth to its faraway target in 12 years. The flyby mission is similar in its approach to the New Horizons probe, which encountered Pluto in 2015.

Assuming a launch in 2026, the Trident probe could reach Triton in 2038 for a one-shot flyby to build on an initial survey by NASA’s Voyager 2 mission in 1989.

“We are proposing a bold mission to Neptune’s moon Triton,” said Louise Prockter, principal investigator for Trident from the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Universities Space Research Association in Houston. “We want to explore how icy worlds evolve and what processes are active on them today.



Neptune and its largest moon Triton are pictured in this view from NASA’s Voyager 2 mission in 1989. Credit: NASA

“In particular, we want to know if Triton has an ocean,” she said. “Can a captured body from the Kuiper Belt, which is how (Triton) originated, form an ocean, and can that ocean persist until today? We also want to investigate Triton’s volcanic and tectonic processes, and understand how they lead to what we think is one of the youngest surfaces of any body in the solar system.

“One of those processes leads to plumes — these very large and distinctive plumes — (and) we want to understand whether they’re the result of icy volcanoes, or are they the result of sunlight driving explosions in nitrogen ice. It’s very, very cool

“We also are going to fly through Triton’s ionosphere to understand why it is one of the most intense in the whole solar system of any moon — 10 times more intense than any other moon,” Prockter said. “All of these investigations will lead us to understand whether Triton may be a habitable world, one of the most fundamental questions in all of solar system science.”

If the Trident mission is approved, Ball Aerospace of Boulder, Colorado, will build the spacecraft for NASA.


Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/02/13/nasa-to-further-assess-proposals-for-probes-to-venus-moons-of-jupiter-and-neptune/
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Odp: [SN] NASA selects four finalists for next Discovery mission
« Odpowiedź #2 dnia: Czerwiec 25, 2020, 03:13 »
Back to Triton? Proposed Mission Would Return to Neptune’s Exotic Largest Moon
By Paul Scott Anderson, on June 18th, 2020


Neptune’s largest moon Triton as seen by Voyager 2 in 1989. The proposed Trident mission would be the first to return to this bizarre world in over three decades. Photo Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

Much of the outer Solar System has now been visited by robotic spacecraft from Earth, including the gas and ice giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as well as Pluto. Many of the moons of these worlds have also been seen up close, sometimes by multiple spacecraft over the years. But as of yet, some of these moons have still only been seen once, and scientists are itching to go back and have a much closer look. One of these moons in particular stands out: Neptune’s largest moon Triton.

And now, a proposed new NASA mission would return to this exotic world for the first time in over three decades. Voyager 2 was the last spacecraft to visit Neptune and its moons, in 1989.

The mission, called Trident, is one of four competing in NASA’s Discovery Program. Up to two of the mission proposals will be selected for further development as full-fledged missions, which will be launched later this decade.

“Triton has always been one of the most exciting and intriguing bodies in the solar system,” said Louise Prockter, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute/Universities Space Research Association in Houston. “I’ve always loved the Voyager 2 images and their tantalizing glimpses of this bizarre, crazy moon that no one understands.”

Trident is named after the three-prong spear used by the ancient Roman sea god Neptune.



Illustration of some of the main features and mysteries of Triton that Trident would explore. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


Trident would carry a wide variety of science instruments to study Triton close-up. Image Credit: NASA/JPL.


Trident is named after the three-pronged spear used by the sea god Neptune in ancient Roman mythology. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Just like the spear, the mission would take a three-pronged approach to exploring Triton. The first major goal would be to observe the plumes first seen by Voyager 2. It has been thought that they are composed of nitrogen gas, which escapes from deposits of nitrogen ice when it is warmed slightly by the distant sun. But could they also perhaps originate from a subsurface ocean, just like the ones on Saturn’s moon Enceladus and (likely) Jupiter’s moon Europa. Trident would investigate this possibility and help scientists determine just how they are produced. Trident will also specially look for evidence of a subsurface ocean. Such oceans are now known to exist on several small icy moons in the outer solar system.

The second major goal would be to observe and map the portions of Triton not yet seen. Voyager 2 was only able to see 40% of the moon’s surface during its brief flyby. What we have seen so far is very intriguing, but what does the rest of Triton look like? Trident would also re-photograph the same regions on Triton where the plumes were found, in full “Neptune-shine,” when the Sun’s meager reflected light illuminates the dark side of Triton. Those images could then be compared to Voyager 2’s to see what changes have occurred since that mission.

The third primary goal is to examine how the moon’s relatively young surface keeps renewing itself over time. There are almost no craters seen in the areas of Triton’s surface that have been observed so far, so what process is erasing them? Triton’s surface is estimated to be only about 10 million years old, which is very young compared to the 4.6 billion year age of the Solar System itself. Triton only has a very thin atmosphere, so scientists want to know how the surface keeps getting refreshed.



Global color mosaic of Triton, as seen by Voyager 2, with an artist’s conception of the moon’s ionosphere added. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Triton is weird, but yet relevantly weird, because of the science we can do there,” said Karl Mitchell Trident project scientist at JPL. “We know the surface has all these features we’ve never seen before, which motivates us to want to know ‘How does this world work?'”

“As we said to NASA in our mission proposal, Triton isn’t just a key to solar system science – it’s a whole keyring: a captured Kuiper Belt object that evolved, a potential ocean world with active plumes, an energetic ionosphere and a young, unique surface.”


And Triton is indeed a weird moon. It orbits in the opposite direction that Neptune rotates, which no other large moon in the Solar System does. It’s orbit is also extremely tilted from Neptune’s equator, by 23 degrees. Scientists also think that Triton originated from the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy bodies out beyond Neptune that includes Pluto.

Triton is large, about three-quarters the size of our Moon, and it’s very thin nitrogen atmosphere is filled with charged particles in its ionosphere layer, which is 10 times more active than that of any other moon. But scientists don’t know why that is, since ionospheres are typically charged by solar energy, and Triton is too far from the Sun for that process to be the only answer.

Triton’s surface has features not seen on any other icy moons, like the dimpled “cantaloupe terrain” and protruding “walled plains.”



Computer-generated image depicting how Neptune would appear from a spacecraft approaching Triton. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS.


View of about 50 dark geyser-like “plumes” on Triton’s surface, as seen by Voyager 2 on Aug. 25, 1989. Their cause is still unknown, but they may be locations where nitrogen gas is venting into space after nitrogen ice is slightly heated by the Sun. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL.


A closer view of one of Triton’s plumes erupting, in three consecutive images from Voyager 2, taken on Aug. 26, 1989. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL.


Partial view of Triton’s weird cantaloupe terrain in the northern hemisphere. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL.

Like Voyager 2, Trident would be a flyby mission, but it would last 13 days, allowing much more time to fully observe and map this bizarre world. If the proposal is approved, Trident would tentatively launch in October 2025 (with a backup date in October 2026 if needed) and arrive at Triton in 2038. An ideal launch window to Neptune/Triton comes once every 13 years, when Earth is aligned with Neptune in a way that a spacecraft can use Jupiter’s gravity along the way to slingshot itself to Neptune.

“The mission designers and navigators are so good at this,” said JPL’s William Frazier, project systems engineer of Trident. “After 13 years of flying through the solar system, we can confidently skim the upper edge of Triton’s atmosphere – which is pretty mind-boggling.”

The other three mission proposals are VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus) and Io Volcano Observer (IVO).

Voyager 2 has been active since 1977, and is the only spacecraft so far to have visited both Neptune and Uranus, as well as Jupiter and Saturn. It reached interstellar space on Nov. 5, 2018, and is expected to be able to send back data until at least 2025.

Even though it is Neptune’s largest moon, there is still a lot we don’t know about Triton. If chosen, Trident will be an exciting mission to an active and mysterious world that beckons for further exploration.


Source: https://www.americaspace.com/2020/06/18/back-to-triton-proposed-mission-would-return-to-neptunes-exotic-largest-moon/#more-113393

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Odp: Artykuły o Discovery program
« Odpowiedź #3 dnia: Czerwiec 04, 2021, 01:51 »
NASA selects two Venus missions for Discovery program
by Jeff Foust — June 2, 2021 [SN]


VERITAS (left) is a Venus orbiter equipped with a radar mapper and infrared sensor, while DAVINCI+ includes a probe that will plunge into the planet's atmosphere to measure its composition. Credit: Lockheed Martin

WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, NASA has announced it will send a robotic mission to Venus, selecting two proposals in the latest round of its Discovery program.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced at the end of a “State of NASA” speech at NASA Headquarters June 2 that the DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions will launch to Venus in the late 2020s, having beat out competing proposals for missions to Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io and Neptune’s large moon Triton that were also selected as finalists in early 2020.

Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-two-venus-missions-for-discovery-program/

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Odp: Artykuły o Discovery program
« Odpowiedź #3 dnia: Czerwiec 04, 2021, 01:51 »

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Odp: Artykuły o Discovery program
« Odpowiedź #4 dnia: Czerwiec 09, 2021, 09:48 »
NASA selects two robotic missions to Venus for launch in late 2020s
June 7, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


The northern hemisphere is displayed in this global view of the surface of Venus as seen by NASA Magellan spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA has selected two robotic missions for launch to Venus around 2029, the U.S. space agency’s first spacecraft in more than 30 years dedicated to exploring the hellishly hot second planet from the sun. (...)

“We get our own big radio communication system right there at Venus on a trajectory that gives us really favorable communications, a nice long arc that lasts up to an hour or so,” Garvin said. “In fact, if it survives surface impact, which we don’t know … we could potentially communicate for another 10 or 15 minutes because we would have the comm link. We don’t know if that will be possible, and it’s not part of our mission, but … we might have that opportunity.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/06/07/nasa-selects-two-robotic-missions-to-venus-for-launch-in-late-2020s/

A highly anticipated Venus probe sees its funding slashed — and some scientists are very upset
By MATTHEW ROZSA Staff Writer PUBLISHED MARCH 30, 2023 5:00AM (EDT)

The effective cancellation of the VERITAS probe has some scientists fuming


Planet Venus (Getty Images/3quarks)

NASA's 2024 budget request includes a near-total reduction in funding for a highly anticipated Venus mission — and now, a number of prominent scientists are saying that the decision amounts to an effective cancellation of a highly anticapated mission to the second planet.

Yet not all space scientists and engineers agree with that assessment, saying that NASA budget critics are misusing the word "cancel." The budget reduction has sparked a debate among the community of astronomers, scientists and engineers who advocate for space exploration.

The mission in question is known as VERITAS, short for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy (VERITAS). Originally slated to launch in 2027 before being pushed forward to 2031 and then back to 2029, the spacecraft is a probe that would orbit the planet, capturing the surface details via radar and creating 3D maps of the planet. The process could help scientists confirm which, if any, volcanoes are still active on Venus, while learning more about its geology. The last Venusian NASA orbiter was Magellan, which launched in 1989 and operated until 1994.

The Planetary Society's chief of space policy Casey Dreier is one such VERITAS advocates who believes the proposed budget cut amounts to an effective shuttering of the mission. Speaking to Gizmodo, Dreier said that the budget change doesn't amount to "full-out cancellation, it's kind of a soft cancellation." Dreier argued that — because NASA has only requested $1.5 million in the 2024 budget proposal, instead of the expected $124 million — engineers and scientists working on the project will merely be able to keep their team functional for the year. Dreier said with such a paltry sum, they will be left "in a holding pattern [. . .] the mission isn't cancelled, so it's kind of a zombie mission at the moment." Planetary volcanologist Tracy Gregg of the University of Buffalo also used the "c" word, warning Axios that NASA's decision "suggests to everybody, not just in the Venus community, but to everybody in the planetary science community that NASA can arbitrarily cancel or delay missions that have already been selected."

Darby Dyar, VERITAS' deputy principal investigator, seemed to sum up the consensus view when he told Space.com that "the idea of standing the team down to help other missions just doesn't make sense in detail, and is really going to introduce a great deal of risk."

Yet not all experts are denouncing NASA's actions in such heated terms. Dr. Robert Herrick, a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute who recently co-authored a study on Venusian volcanoes, told Salon by email that based on the statements he received from NASA at a town hall held by the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, "NASA does not intend to cancel VERITAS but only delay it, with a restart as soon as the budget allows. I take them at the word on that." While emphasizing that he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the VERITAS mission regarding NASA's budget issues, Herrick added that it seemed reasonable to allow the European Space Agency's EnVision to begin observing the planet and then have VERITAS later work with EnVision. "There are excellent scientific reasons to try to launch VERITAS late in this decade so that it precedes the EnVision launch."

Noam Izenberg, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Chair of NASA's Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), told Salon that he finds the decision to delay to be "extremely disappointing." Yet Izenberg argued that given NASA's repeatedly stated commitment to Venus exploration, "budget and workforce concerns make it, I believe, a question of 'when,' but not 'if.'"

Indeed, NASA is arguing that its decision was not due solely to traditional budgetary concerns, but also because an investigation last year scathingly criticized NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for delays and serious logistical problems with other missions due to workforce shortages and poor planning. Consequently, the agency has decided that other missions such as Europa Clipper, Psyche and NISAR need to be completed before VERITAS can have its turn at bat.

"As for when, a delay to a 2031 launch is far from optimum, and there are compelling reasons (for science, workforce, and budget) to move it back up to a late 2029 launch," Izenberg wrote to Salon. "This would require additional short-term money NASA does not have in its current, already strained budget, but which may be within Congress' power to grant." The solution may have to come from ordinary citizens: "Ongoing, positive support from the community now and moving forward is one of the best ways to convince this should be done. The VERITAS team has put out great information to inform those interested in supporting the mission."

Izenberg also mentioned the plethora of existing and upcoming Venus-based missions — including Japan's Akatsuki mission (in orbit around Venus since 2015), a private small Venus mission by Rocket Lab currently set to launch in January 2025; and NASA's DAVINCI+ mission, which is scheduled to send a probe deep into Venus' atmosphere in the summer of 2029.

"Finally, as Robbie Herrick's paper showed us a couple weeks ago, even at 30 years old, the venerable data sets from Venus like Magellan's global radar maps still have new things to tell us today," Izenberg told Salon. Izenberg was referring to a recent study that used Magellan data, and which suggested there was active volcanic activity on Venus. If confirmed, this would mean that Venus is the only planet in our solar system (along with Earth) that still has active volcanoes. "There is still research that can be done now that will help us prepare for and maximize the return from all the upcoming missions," Izenberg continued.

The volcano study is one of several recent papers that have led to a surge of renewed interest in studying Venus. Venus was the subject of intense study when, in 2020, astronomers believe they had detected phosphine gas, which is associated with anaerobic bacteria, in small concentrations in Venus' atmosphere. However, subsequent studies did not detect phosphine.

https://www.salon.com/2023/03/30/veritas-venus-probe-budget-slashed/

https://twitter.com/CaseyDreier/status/1636053793992495104

Delayed NASA Venus mission looks for a reprieve
Jeff Foust November 13, 2022 [SN]


NASA delayed the launch of VERITAS to no earlier than 2031 in response to issues with the Psyche mission, but the leader of the VERITAS mission says she will try to shorten that delay. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — The head of a Venus mission delayed at least three years by NASA in response to problems with another mission says she will attempt to shorten that delay.

As part of the Nov. 4 release of an independent review board’s report on the delays with the Psyche mission, which uncovered broader institutional issues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where it was being developed, NASA announced it would delay the launch of the Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, And Spectroscopy, or VERITAS, Venus orbiter mission by at least three years, to no earlier than 2031. VERITAS, like Psyche, is run by JPL.
https://spacenews.com/delayed-nasa-venus-mission-looks-for-a-reprieve/

NASA planetary science budget remains under stress
Jeff Foust January 3, 2023 [SN]


The head of NASA’s planetary science division said the decision in November to delay the launch of VERITAS by three years was the “least of the bad answers” to address problems with the Psyche mission and budgetary stresses. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — Despite a small funding increase for 2023, NASA’s planetary science programs still face “significant stress” financially that contributed to the delay of one mission and could push back the start of others.

NASA received $3.2 billion for planetary science in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus spending bill signed into law Dec. 29. That was about $80 million more than what the agency received for planetary science in 2022 and $40 million above its request for 2023.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-planetary-science-budget-remains-under-stress/
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