Exploration of our solar system has been ongoing since the first Sputnik Earth orbiter in 1957 and in the 50 years since this a number of missions have been launched to visit and explore celestial bodies. These have included the moon landings of the 1960′s, the first Mars orbiter in the 1970′s and more recently spacecraft such as the Venus Express. Each new mission which is successful results in a little more knowledge being gained and this helps to advance our understanding of the solar system in which we live. New Frontiers is NASA’s program to explore the solar system with medium class spacecraft missions and at the end of December 2009 the candidates who will fight it out to become the third New Frontiers mission were announced.
The New Frontiers program came about following a study in 2001 which was conducted to look at the state of solar system exploration at that time and identify priorities for continued exploration during the 10 year period 2003 to 2013. The study identified five medium class missions that were considered of importance and the New Frontiers program was set up to examine and implement these.
The first mission launched was named New Horizons and its goal is to visit and explore Pluto. It will also visit one or more Kuiper Belt objects during the mission. New Horizons was launched in January 2006 and is scheduled to reach its destination by July 2015. The second New Frontiers mission is named Juno and has been designed to conduct an in-depth study of Jupiter. It is currently scheduled for launch in August 2011. At the end of December 2009 NASA announced that three candidates had been chosen for the third New Frontiers program and these include some exciting possibilities for solar system exploration.
The first potential candidate is named the Sunrise and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer (SAGE) and would comprise a mission to Venus. On arrival it would release a probe into the atmosphere of the planet which would undertake extensive measurements as it descended to the surface of Venus. Upon landing the probe would conduct studies to assess the composition and mineralogy of the surface material.
The second candidate is called the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer or Osiris-Rex for short. This mission would be designed to travel to and orbit an asteroid. Extensive measurements of the asteroid would be taken while the spacecraft was in orbit around it. Samples would then be collected from the surface of the asteroid and these would be returned to Earth. These samples would be used to assist in the study of the formation of the solar system and the origins of the molecules necessary for life.
The third candidate would send a spacecraft to land in an area near the south pole of the moon which would collect lunar material and return it to Earth. This mission is known as Moonrise: Lunar South Pole – Aitken Basin Sample Return Mission. The returned lunar sample would be used to help gain an insight into the early history of the Earth-moon system.
Each of the candidates will now have around a year to complete a detailed concept study which is required to consider the feasibility of implementation, the costs involved and technical plans for carrying out and completing the mission. The teams will receive approximately $3.3 million to undertake the concept study and it is currently proposed that selection of the winning candidate will be made in mid 2011. Planning and preparation for the chosen mission would then take around seven years and the spacecraft has to be ready for launch by no later than the end of December 2018.
Each of the missions represents an opportunity for further study of a celestial body and the winning candidate is sure to advance our knowledge of the solar system. All three are potentially exciting opportunities to learn something new and any one of them would provide scientists with a rich source of data. Only time will tell which of the candidates will be successful and for now the three teams have a year of hard work ahead of them.