Discovery Program 2006 and Missions Of Opportunity Options

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

I'm not sure exactly which forum this fits in but NASA has just released the AO for Discovery Program 2006 and Missions of Opportunity. See the Discovery Program Acquisition Home Page for more details. Click on the "Discovery AO" link to download the PDF.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Faith Vilas, Discovery Program Scientist at the July 2002 "Discovery Program Lessons Learned Workshop" ( http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/PDF_FILES/DiscoMinutes3.pdf , pg. 5):

"Q: Are there any major changes from the last AO [for the next one in 2003]?

"A: Mars, Phobos, and Deimos will now be in Mars Scout -- so they are no longer in
Discovery."

I've seen no indication that they have changed this back since. Jeff Bell -- who was associated with the "Gulliver" Deimos sampling mission -- has been bitching about it to me for some time. I will agree with him and you that it doesn't make any sense; but then, that fact means that it fits in very well with the US space program in general.

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Jeff Bell -- who was associated with the "Gulliver" Deimos sampling mission -- has been bitching about it to me for some time.  I will agree with him and you that it doesn't make any sense...

It does make perfect sense, however, if NASA has no intention of flying a dedicated Phobos/Deimos mission. Moving "jurisdiction" for any such mission to the Mars Scout line, for all intents and purposes, is a death knell since Mars Scout proposals must be responsive to MEP scientific goals. Neither Phobos nor Deimos rate high (if at all) under MEP. At least in the Discovery Program, missions like Aladdin and Gulliver had a chance, so, in this rare instance, I'll have to agree with your example of Bell's "bitching."

This post has been edited by AlexBlackwell: Jan 26 2006, 07:23 PM