Discovery 2012 Options

[rlorenz]

Article (and an opportunity to vote) on the Discovery program and the missions under consideration for summer 2012 selection

http://www.nature.com/news/nasa-set-to-cho...mission-1.10982

[dvandorn]

I also have to say I'm happy with the choice of InSight, as I've been seriously wanting heat flow data from Mars for a really long time, and a good, sensitive seismometer is worth an awful lot, too. (Too bad the seismometers attached to the Viking lander structures didn't work very well, if at all.)

Yet, as so many have expressed, it's bittersweet. We would all, I'm sure, love to see the vistas from a Titanian lake. However, remember that vistas are only one part of the reason for exploring our solar system. A good TiME mission would likely have given views of the ripples on the surface of the lake that are like a meter away, unless it would have had some kind of mast to raise a camera well above the top of the waves. A detailed study of the liquids in the lake would have been the primary mission, not sending back stirring images of distant shores. And as important and interesting as is that science, if we had to make a choice, I guess I'd prefer getting the heat flow and seismic data from Mars first.

Besides, a TiME-like probe could eventually be incorporated into an as-yet-undefined flagship mission to the outer planets. There likely won't be any further flagship-level missions to Mars in the near term, at least until we're ready to consider sample return. I like the idea of using a Discovery slot or two to fill in the gaps in our Mars dataset, to help us decide on the parameters of a potential MSR mission.

It will take a great deal of time to pony up the resources to explore all the places we want to explore. I guess in this case, we should rejoice in what we can get and cultivate patience for what we didn't get this time around. Because, as with orbital trajectories, what goes around, comes around.

-the other Doug

[rlorenz]

(Too bad the seismometers attached to the Viking lander structures didn't work very well, if at all.)

Viking 1's seismometer didnt uncage, so no data
Viking 2 data was dominated most of the time by wind noise on the lander (which Insight's deployed seismometer with wind shield
will largely eliminate) although there was a pretty low background at night when winds were low. There was one possible M3.5 event
detected, but there was no contemporaneous wind data to eliminate a gust or so as the cause of the signal.

As it happens, I have NASA funding to examine the Viking seismology record for evidence of dust devils (the seismometer was
sampled more frequently than was the meteorology package) and, with the cooperation of one of the original
investigators, to archive the data (acquired long before PDS existed, and in a rather awkward format on NSSDC) in a more
friendly format.

I guess I'd prefer getting the heat flow and seismic data from Mars first.
.........
I guess in this case, we should rejoice in what we can get and cultivate patience for what we didn't get this time around.
Because, as with orbital trajectories, what goes around, comes around.

You can do Mars geophysics now (2016), or in 2018, or in 2020......( or you could have done it in 1976, or ....) but we only discovered Titan's north polar seas in 2007, when TiME was first exposed to NASA, and good Earth view from Ligeia won't happen again until 2040. I am likely about the youngest person involved in Huygens from its beginning and I and colleagues were able to bring Huygens experience to bear on TiME.
I will be 71 years old in 2040.

NASA has its reasons for making its selection. Insight will be a good mission. But with respect, I do not agree with your programmatic reasoning.

[vjkane]

But with respect, I do not agree with your programmatic reasoning.

I thought the alignment of the planets made the compelling case for TiME. Scientifically, there were three winners among the finalists, but only one mission that couldn't be done until 2040 without considerable expense.

At least three outer planet proposals were made for Discovery -- TiME, Io Observer, and Journey to Enceladus and Titan. None were selected. Since we aren't privy to the debrief data, we can't know if they were simply too ambitious for Discovery budgets (although the PIs were experienced and should have been realistic). Alternatively, all three might have been judged to fit within the Discovery budget and the decision was to go with the lowest technical risk mission: InSight.

In the past, Discovery mission opportunities were frequent enough that teams could stay together and refine their proposals for the next competition. With five years between selections, that may prove difficult.

InSight will be an awesome mission (as Chopper would have been), but I will always regret that we didn't take advantage of the TiME opportunity.