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.

[volcanopele]

Are EPOHc and DIXI (clever ) necessarily mutually exclusive? Is it possible both could be approved, with DI targeted to a new comet and "EPOHc" running during the "dead" time before and after the comet encounter?

[Comga]

Are EPOHc and DIXI (clever ) necessarily mutually exclusive? Is it possible both could be approved, with DI targeted to a new comet and "EPOHc" running during the "dead" time before and after the comet encounter?

Yes they are. EPOCh can observe practically any time. DIXI needs to target the spacecraft for Earth fly-by and then observe Comet Boethin for a few months. Having already done the bulk of the retargeting just after the flyby of Tempel 1, there is not that much velocity change needed for DIXI, and EPOCh shouln't take much propellant at all. Other than that, as long as nothing wears out, they don't interfere with each other, and the two should cost less than the sum of the separate programs. You only have to wake up and check out the spacecraft once. The spacecraft was healthy last time it was contacted.