As part of its ongoing Discovery Program , NASA has select four possible missions that would regard some of the most hostile and enigmatic spot in the solar organisation .
Established in 1992 , NASA’sDiscovery Program“gives scientists a hazard to dig deep into their imaginations and rule new ways to unlock the mystery of our solar organisation , ” grant to the program site . undertaking previously chosen under the Discovery Program admit theKeplerspace telescope , theLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , and theInSightlander , which is presently on Mars . forthcoming missions include ones to exploreJupiter ’s trojan asteroids , the 210 - kilometer - wide of the mark ( 130 miles)16 Psyche asteroid , and the Martian moonPhobos .
So yeah , this program has a somewhat decent racecourse platter — and as thenewly announced batchof possible missions indicates , this is a happy trend that ’s set to continue .
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft caught Jupiter’s moon Io experiencing a volcanic eruption on 5 April 2025.Image: (NASA/JPL/DLR)
Due to the way the Discovery Program works , proposed missions ca n’t pace on the toes of on-going or pre - approved project . Accordingly , these four new construct , all of which have yet to receive net approval , regard missions to antecedently leave out yet highly worthful scientific targets . In this case , the destination would include Venus , Jupiter ’s moon Io , and Neptune ’s moonlight Triton .
The planner of these four shortlisted delegation will now embark upon nine - month study to further flesh out their concepts , and they ’ve all been give $ 3 million in extra funding to make it happen . All candidates will have to further develop and refine their concepts and submit a formal Concept Study Report to the Discovery Program .
countenance ’s take a facial expression at the four candidates in more contingent .
Conceptual image of DAVINCI+ during its descent toward the surface of Venus.Image: (NASA/GSFC)
First , there’sDAVINCI+ , which stands for Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of baronial gases , Chemistry , and Imaging Plus . Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Maryland is the radical behind this project , the primary aim of which is to analyze Venus ’s noxious , roiling ambience . Indeed , many mill about questions remain about this insistency cooker of a planet , such as how it work and evolved and whether or not it once host melted water at the surface .
During this brief delegacy , the spherical DAVINCI+ investigation will apply a chute to slow go down toward the surface , during which metre it will take various measurements . In particular , the probe will test to sniffle out traces of imposing gases , such as atomic number 54 , which could reveal perceptivity into Venus ’s volcanic and hydrological past times . The probe will also map the surface and notice different character of rock .
The instruments on DAVINCI+ will be protected from the planet ’s wondrous heating and atmospheric pressure , let in a photographic camera ( which account for the + planetary house in the task name , a recent addition ) that will click pics during the hr - long descent . As to how long the probe will last once it ’s on the surface , that ’s anyone ’s guess .
Neptune’s moon Triton, as photographed by Voyager 2 in 1989.Image: (NASA/JPL/USGS)
TheIo Volcano Observer(IVO ) would research another hostile target , Jupiter ’s moon Io . This object is super volcanic , the solution of tremendous gravitative forces imposed by its enormous , gaseous host . Io has the most active surface of any physical object in the solar system , making it an excellent mark for scientific geographic expedition . Institutions involve in this bid include the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel , Maryland .
IVO would do around 10 close flybys of Io during the five - year mission , which could be extended by an extra three years look on how things go . The investigation would reveal new brainwave into tidal heating and how heating plant builds up in the core and then spread to the surface . These findings would aid scientists better understand exchangeable processes project elsewhere , such as on Saturn ’s moon Enceladus , which sport a warm subsurface ocean .
The Trident foreign mission would see a spacecraft zoom past Triton , a badly understand moonlight around Neptune . This proposed mission from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston , with help from NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , California , would research the potential drop for habitableness at the extreme edges of the solar system .
Conceptual image of VERITAS in orbit around Venus.Image: (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
observance from NASA ’s Voyager 2 probe reveal an icy yet highly combat-ready airfoil on Triton . And in fact , this moonshine features the youngest surface of any terrestrial body in the solar system , second only to Io . Triton might actually have its own atmosphere , which would make it only the 2d moon in our solar organization known to host an atmosphere , the other being Saturn ’s Titan . The moonlight might also be break out material into space via cryovolcanoes ( yes , literally ice volcanoes ) , and its ionosphere is thought to churn out complex organic fertiliser that precipitate like nose candy . Excitingly , Triton could also feature a subsurface sea .
The Trident mission would involve a single flyby , so it ’d be a one - and - done deal , similar to the New Horizons mission to Pluto . Though legal brief , Trident would go past exceptionally close to the moon ( within 500 kilometer ) , during which time it would map the surface , measure its ionosphere , and hunt for shadow of a hidden ocean . As an added bonus , Trident would swing by Jupiter on its manner to the Neptune scheme .
Finally there ’s theVERITASmission , which digest for Venus Emissivity , Radio Science , InSAR , Topography , and Spectroscopy . This low - toll , two - year delegation would see a satellite station in orbit around Venus , where it would do a elaborate analysis of the planet ’s aerofoil . The primary purpose of this mission , led by NASA ’s JPL , is to understand the differences and law of similarity compare to Earth . Essentially , why did Venus deteriorate into ourevil twin ?
equip with an array of sensor , VERITAS would make a 3D topographical mapping of Venus , hunt for signs of Crater , architectonic activity , volcanism , and previous urine , take the major planet ’s temperature , study its gravitational field of battle , and do a detailed geological study .
The VERITAS mission could be attend as a rival the DAVINCI+ project . Its contriver havedesignedthe mission such that the satellite could deploy a nanosat probe into the standard pressure , where , with its mass spectrometer , it would hunt for noble gases .
It seems unbelievable , therefore , that NASA would choose both the VERITAS and DAVINCI+ missions , but we ’ll have to expect and see . Sadly , only one or two of these missions will get greenlit as an official NASA missionary station , a decision we can wait in 2021 .
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