posted 02-22-2010 12:17 PM               

Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions

NASA will begin funding at least two dedicated precursor missions in 2011. One will likely be a lunar mission to demonstrate tele-operation capability from Earth and potentially from the International Space Station, including the ability to transmit near-live video to Earth. This will also result in investigations for validating the availability of resources for extraction. NASA will provide opportunities to participate in the payloads and observation teams, and potentially portions of the spacecraft, through open competition.

NASA will also select at least one additional robotic precursor mission to initiate in 2011, and identify potential future missions to begin in 2012 and/or 2013. Potential missions may include:

• Landing on asteroids or the moons of Mars rather than orbiting these bodies would allow us to better determine whether they pose safety hazards to astronauts or contain materials useful for future explorers. Landing can also test technologies that could help future human missions.

• Landing a facility to test processing technologies for transforming lunar or asteroid materials for fuel could eventually allow astronauts to partially "live off the land."

These precursor exploration missions will cooperate closely with ESMD's Technology and Demonstrations Program, potentially serving as test-beds for new technologies. Additionally, the Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions will leverage its experience from the successfully co-manifested LRO and LCROSS missions to seek other co-manifesting opportunities in an effort to save launch vehicle costs and to encourage collaboration.

Program formulation will define processes and criteria for implementation. Leveraging LRO and LCROSS experience, formulation activities will define processes for destination and mission selection, methodology for risk and project management, acquisition strategies, and metrics against which program and project success will be defined. The Exploration Precursor Robotic Missions will foster open competition in procurements, accommodation for partnerships, and actively engage the public in coordination with Participatory Exploration efforts.

Additionally, a new portfolio of explorer scouts will execute small, rapid turn-around, highly competitive missions to exploration destinations. Generally budgeted at between $100M and $200M lifecycle cost, these missions will allow NASA to test new and innovative ways of doing robotic exploration of destinations of interest to future human exploration. Selected projects may provide multiple small scouting spacecraft to investigate multiple possible landing sites, or provide means of rapid-prototyping new spacecraft approaches. These missions will be fully and openly competed in a Principal Investigator mode.