Priority Planetary Science Missions Identified by NASEM

A new decadal survey from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) identifies priority planetary science missions, planetary defense efforts, and strategic investments for the next decade.

“This report sets out an ambitious but practicable vision for advancing the frontiers of planetary science, astrobiology, and planetary defense in the next decade.”

Robin Canup, assistant vice president of the Planetary Sciences Directorate at the Southwest Research Institute.

The recommendations by the steering committee for the decadal survey draw on input from the scientific community through the advice of six panels, hundreds of white papers, invited speakers, outreach to advisory groups and professional society conferences, and work with mission-design teams.

“This report sets out an ambitious but practicable vision for advancing the frontiers of planetary science, astrobiology, and planetary defense in the next decade,” said Robin Canup, assistant vice president of the Planetary Sciences Directorate at the Southwest Research Institute, and co-chair of the National Academies’ steering committee for the decadal survey. “This recommended portfolio of missions, high-priority research activities, and technology development will produce transformative advances in human knowledge and understanding about the origin and evolution of the solar system, and of life and the habitability of other bodies beyond Earth.”

The report identifies three high-level scientific themes — origins, worlds and processes, and life and habitability — and defines 12 priority science questions to help guide mission selection and research efforts in planetary science and astrobiology.

Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 recommends NASA missions that are balanced across three cost classes, and considers both ongoing and potential future missions in order to enable a steady stream of new discoveries and support the capability to make major scientific advances. The small-class Discovery program supports principal investigator (PI)-led missions that address focused science objectives with a high launch cadence. Medium-class missions like those in the New Frontiers program are PI-led and address broader science goals. Large-class flagship missions address broad, high-priority science objectives with sophisticated instrument payloads and mission designs.

Mars and the moon each provide the opportunity to investigate a wide range of priority science questions at relatively easy to reach destinations, and these justify the Mars Exploration Program (MEP) and the Lunar Discovery Exploration Program (LDEP) as dedicated priority planetary science missions, according to the report. It recommends NASA develop scientific exploration strategies in other areas of broad scientific importance, such as Venus and ocean worlds, that have an increasing number of U.S. missions and international collaboration opportunities.

NASA should maintain the MEP and prioritize the Mars Life Explorer (MLE) as the next medium-class MEP mission. While the Mars Sample Return (MSR) looks for ancient biosignatures, the MLE would seek extant life and assess modern habitability. The prior decadal survey recommended a Mars sample caching rover as NASA’s top priority flagship mission, which is being implemented as the MSR program. The new decadal survey reaffirms the broad and fundamental scientific importance of MSR, and says the highest scientific priority of NASA’s robotic exploration efforts this decade should be MSR’s completion as soon as practicably possible with no change in scope. However, it cautions that the cost of MSR should not be allowed to undermine the long-term programmatic balance of the planetary portfolio. If costs increase substantially, NASA should take strong efforts to secure a budget augmentation to ensure the success of this strategic mission.

The report contains a suite of recommendations aimed at ensuring there is the funding, infrastructure, and technology needed to support the prioritized missions and other research efforts going forward. For example, PSD should progressively ramp up its investment in research and analysis (R&A) activities to a minimum annual funding level of 10% of its budget. Strong, steady investment in R&A is needed to ensure a maximal return of mission data, that data drives understanding and novel testable hypotheses, and that advances feed into future mission development.

NASA’s level of planetary technology funding has declined over recent years to just 4% and now falls short of recommended levels of investment. The report says PSD should fund technology advancement at an average of 6% to 8% of its budget in order to achieve the significant technology advancements that will be needed to accomplish strategic research and missions prioritized in the report.

NSF-supported, ground-based telescopic observations provide critical data that help in addressing important planetary science questions, and NSF should continue, and if possible expand, funding to support existing and future observatories and related programs.

(Source: National Academies news release. Image provided)