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New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy (2003)

Chapter: 6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor

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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Suggested Citation:"6 Solar System Exploration Today: A Multifaceted Endeavor." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10432.
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Solar System Exploration Today* A Multifacetect Encleavor Solar system exploration is ~ grmd humm enterprise that seeks to discover the nature md origins of He celestial bodies among which we live md to explore whether life exists beyond Earn. MOTIVATIONS. WHY SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION COMPELS I}S TODAY To appreeia~ our place in He universe' we must underfed the neighborhood in which we reside. We want to know how plmets formed' what determined their characteristics, md why ~ least one of them became ~ abode of life. How haphazard was this formation: Do Parklike planets typically survive' or are they usually swallowed by Jupi~r-like objects, pushed into their parent parse or flung into the Hostess of interstellar space: Is life ~ rare phenomenon' or is it the expected outcome of solar system formation: The answers to these profound questions may be contained in the orbits masses, compositions' gaseous md plasma environments md surface md internal structures of solar system objects. We may undersold yet more by scrutinizing the plme~ orbiting other stars. The solar system evolves. Plenary md satellite surfaces record ancient histories of violent impacts' volemie eruptions, perusal tectonics, md fluid erosion. Planets rings continually Tahoe' active geology is ~ work on He solid bodies in He outer solar system' md Titans Ionosphere support ongoing organic Nemesis. Marks climax md internal dummies have echoed dramatically over time. Ear~-erossing asteroids md comes threaten us. Will we md our plme~ry home survive: Some day people may live on other piked. By investigating these environments' we em better prepare for our future md perhaps predict He destiny of our species. Could life have developed on other solar system objects: lament discoveries suggest ~~ the ``h~itable zoners is not defined simply by distance from ~ Car. Liquid water appears to be seeping out of the frozen cliffs of Mars md likely lies behead He icy crust of Europa. Life on Earn survives extreme environment. Organic molecules md chemical-energy sources are ubiquitous beyond our plmet md the ingredients offamiliar terrestrial life water' carbon' md nib open may have been brought to Earths surface by asteroids md icy comets. Life itself may have been strewn across the solar sys~m~s archipelago by He impacts of comets md asteroids. Throughout this report' the word 1<h~it~le>' is used ir1 ~ ~rlera1 surly me~irlg compatible with any kind of life. When used to mew compatible with hums life' the text is qualified as such. 153

754 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM Exploration of ~e solar system cart reveal how likely we are to find life elsewhere in the univerm arid how it might be recognized. Just as studies of extreme but rarely visited ~rres~i~ environment have revealed novel microbic species arid unar~ticipa~d microbial ecosystems, so the deviled exploration of the solar system also might revolutionize our idea about ~e diversity of life arid the rare of conditions in which it might original ardor survive. The scrutiny of ~e solar system provides over examples against which to compare Earth. It also helps us comprehend fir how our world operates arid how it evolves. The study of the solar system as ~ whole, md of the individual bodies within it' helps us underbred how ~e moire family of ply formed arid how perry systems might develop around other stars. It therefore leads us to wonder whether over Earth-like plumb cart sustain life. When we discuss life in the context of solar system exploration' it must be clearly understood ~~ success or failure is not measured Chording to whether or not we actually find life beyond plmet Earn. It is just as import to know ~~ life does notexist in ~ particular locale' because this may lead to the development of art understanding of the environmental conditions necessary for lifers existence. This suggests thy life-rela~d studies must be intimately co~d to studies of ~e origin md evolution of ply environments. Therefore' to assess ~e habitability of' for example' Mars requires ~ Borough understanding of ~~ plar~et's tectonic' magmatic' hydro- logie, md climatic evolution, including geoehemiea1 eyeles of biological relevance, Me development of po~tia1 habitats, arid Me processes responsible for Me preservation arid destruction of biomarkers. To Duly appreciate the apparent uniqueness of Early we must undersold its rocky siblings: Mercury' Venus' md Mars' as well as the Moon. To uncover clues to the origin md evolution of the solar system md other plme~ry systems' we mud let about Me gist plme~ md Weir satellites md ring systems. To underfed our begir~E~ings, we must examine samples from the solar systems oldest md mod primitive bodies: domed md asteroids. These issues concerning our place in the cosmos derive from Free of Me mod profound questions ~~ em be posed about the humm condition: Are we alone: Where do we come from: What is our destiny: These deceptively simple questions have motivated ~ broad range of humm endeavors, including exploration of scientific subjects as diverse as cosmology md biology. Nowhere are they more applicable than in solar system exploration. Plme~ry exploration is also driven in part by our species' seemingly inedible desire for knowledge md Me application of ~~ knowledge to improve the humm condition. Such aspirations may be realizable as insight into natural processes md phenomena that affect humm society' potential mitigation of hoards to Each that arrive from space, md provision of knowledge about space resources that are available for utilization. The unqueneh~le humm desire to explore, again ostensibly to improve the humm condition, encourages mmy citizens. And who knows what role is played by Me yearning of humms to know ourselves md to comprehend our place in the universe: In the words of TV. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we sorted And know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliod' <<Little Gidding,,' Four Q A major motivation for much solar system research is to understand' ~ ~ fundamental level' the mower in which plme~ry bodies function. Various seientif~e disciplines geology, meteorology, md space plasma physics' for income once pertained solely to Earth. Today Hey are enriched by being addressed in the broader context of Me whole solar system rather than with ~ lone example. This eompar~ive approach em be oversold' but some subs~ti~ advances in understanding are indeed being realized by investigating planetary processes as they apply in different settings: high-temperature volemism on Io' differences in the climates of ~rrestria1 planets' md substorms in Mereury~s magnetosphere' for example.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY 155 Since time immemorial' ~ driving impulse for science has been to understand the threes the the natural environment poses to civilization. Some hazards' such as disease' fire, flood, arid earthquake' are obvious arid have long been ~e subjects of intensive scientific research. Others including climax charge arid ~e Brew posed by cosmic impacts' have received attention by scientists only in ~e past few decades. The belted recognition of them throws is ~ consequence of ~e long time scales between destructive events, not art indication thy they are arty less lathe chart Bow thy have long An known. Indeed' climax chugs Ed cosmic impact are distinguished by Heir po~ntia1 to devalue civilization as we know it. It therefore behooves us to systematically assess ~e magnitude of Base Brews. Climax cart be Eared by modifications in global volcanism' solar output, or ~e influx of in~rplar~ry dust. Both deterministic arid chaotic celestial mechar~ics introduce variable solar insolation' arid society~s contaminar~ affect the atmospheres response. The interactions among these influences are so complicated thy Hey are nof yet fully understood. The atmospheres of Venus Ed Mars' for example, evolved such thy Hey differ radically from Earths atmosphere. To learn ~e reasons for Base differences is ~ Entrap motiv~ionfor ~e SSE Surveys support of ~ vigorous Mars program arid of in situ investigations of Venus. In the lamer case, temperatures vastly higher chart those on Earth result from ~ runaway greenhouse effect of ~ magnitude seemingly incommensurate win Venus,~ slightly smaller orbital radius. Marks thin carbon dioxide Ionosphere represents the other extreme, in which temperatures are low arid ~ significant fraction of the ahnosphere lies buried as ice within the regolith arid upper crust. These `~end members', of ~rrestria1 atmospheric evolution nicely bracket the thar~kfully clement climax prevailing on Earth. The atmospheric' geological' Ed evolutionary effects of cosmic impact have become apparent only since He early I98Os, when ~e likely cause of the Cre~eous-Tertiary extinction was first associated with the impact of ~ lO-km as~roid.i Colliding asteroids Ed comets of even much smaller diameter deliver enormous kinetic energy with possibly deadly consequences raying from local to global. At Congress ~ s direction, He National Aeronautics Ed Space Administration (NASA) has supported ~ ground-based program to identify 90 percent of the near-Ear~ objects (NEOs) larger than ~ km in diameter by 2008. The task is now Bout half complex, although He best simulations of He current survey strategies predict ~~ this goal will not be met for mmy deeades.2 Kilome~r-si~d impaetors would be globally devastating' Ed even the much more common smaller projectiles could wreak unimaginable local havoc in populated areas. The high-altitude explosion of ~ SO-m-diameter body above Tunguska' Siberia' in ~ 908 felled bees over ~ 2~000-km2 blast zone, Ed would have been sufficient to flatten ~ large oily. Assessment of the NEO population down to 300-m scales' as pax of ~ ordained inventory of the small bodies of He solar system, was recognized as ~ high priority for NASA,s Solar System Exploration program in the most recent astronomy Ed astrophysics deeada1 survey.3 We also need refined physical observa- tions of these reining objects in order to determine Heir physical properties Ed estimate Heir kinetic energy. Once humm exploration of the solar system is renewed' Ed especially as soon as lengthy missions begin' knowledge of the available extr~errestria1 resources will be imperative. Preliminary studies have identified sites where specific resources may be lowland Ed have suggested the mems to extant these valuable minerals Ed compounds. Examples include hydrogen `<lodes,' on He Moon Ed metallic ore veins through asteroids as well as water Ed fee reservoirs in the martim regolith. In summed solar system exploration he become particularly compelling today because now' nearly half century after space vehicles first left Ens gravitational grip, we have finally reached the point where He answers to profound motivational questions seem within our grasp. SiOLAll SYSTEM EXPLORATIONS AN I1NTERNATIONAL ENTElIPllISE The exploration of He solar system is ~ global endeavor involving seienti~s, engineers' managers, politicians' Ed others from mmy nations, sometimes working together Ed sometimes in healthy competition, to open new frontiers of knowledge about the solar system. a Across the world He program enjoys wide public support motivated as much by the possible humm eoloniz~ion of the solar system as by specific scientific questions. Since id inception' solar system exploration has been ~ in~rn~iona1 venture. But the early po~-Spu~ik days of flyby missions Ed even in situ exploration coincided with the Cold War years' engendering fierce

756 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R DIM competition between the United Scams arid the Soviet Union. Even during thy era the two rivals occasionally cooperated for examples in ~e exchar~e of lunar samples collected by the Apollo arid Luna programs as well as in collaborations for the analysis of solar wind interactions win comets. hive recently' in~rn~ion~ collaborative efforts have grown, leading to various programs thy have significar~tly enhar~ced mission capabilities arid scientific returns. In~rnationa1 involvement has covered marry different aspects of exploration, from individual scientific collaborations arid dam exchar~es to joint major undertakings (~.g.~ ~e C~ileo~ Cassini-Huygens~ arid Roset missions). ~~rn~iona1 coll~or~ions could ~ strengthened by insuring strong participation by non-.. members on science definition Cams for specific projects' as is done for some missions, arid by giving further consideration to siding groups such as the In~rn~iona1 hIars Exploration Working Group. Some future endeavors are so vast in mope or so difficult (egg. sample return from Mars) thy no single nation is prepared to 31100^ ~C resources necessary to accomplish Hem alone. It would be advantageous to ~e Solar System Exploration program for NASA to encourage arid facilitate such joint ventures so as to allow them to flourish in the future. The theme of in~rnationa1 cooperation appears often in Part Two of this report arid the SSE Survey recom- mend that NASA encourage and continue to pursue cooperative program with other nations Nevertheless' primarily because of constraints on its scope' this report focuses only on He status arid future of solar system exploration programs in He United Scams. The SSE Survey adempts to identify where major incarnations cooperation is advisable but in its discussion of future strategy does nof consider in my depth He remarkable md exciting plans of other agencies in He intern~ion~ eommunily' nor does it consider the ramifiea- tions of in~rnationa1 space programs.4>5 MODIFYING THE GOALS OF SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION Solar system exploration has been pursued in the United Sates for fully four decades. During most of that time' He seientif~e goals of NASA's Solar System Exploration program have remained quip sublet win their relative importune gradually evolving over time. The SSE Survey largely reaffirms the statement of scientific goals made in the Space Studies Lourdes last major survey of He planets seienees,6 but win He following modifications. First the SSE Survey includes the search for the existence of life' either past or present' beyond Earth' md second' the Survey seeks to ineorpora~ the development of detailed knowledge of Earths immediate space environment in order to underfed my potential hoards to our home planet. The objectives of solar system exploration' ~en, become these: ~ Determine if environment capable of sustaining life exist or have ever existed beyond Earth' what parameters constrain id occurrence' how life developed in the solar system' whether life exists or may have existed beyond Earth md in what ways life modifies planets environments; ~ Understand how physical md chemical processes determine He main eharae~risties of solar system bodies md Heir environments' thereby illuminating the workings of Earn; Learn how He Surfs retinue of planets md minor bodies originated md evolved; Explore the terrestrial space environment to disc over what potential h=ards to Earth may exist; md ~ Discover how the simple' basic laws of physics md ehemis~y em lead to He diverse phenomena observed in complex systems. In the early years of NASA's Solar System Exploration program, especially during the period surrounding He Apollo explorations of the Moon' space policy was dominated by political goals: for example, PresidentKermedy~s decision to place ~ humm on the Moon by He end of He I960s. Then md for mmy years to follow, robotic spacecraft were dispatched on scientific missions designed to simply dim over He general nature of He solar system. This era of initial recormaissmee beam in the I960s md encompassed He Mariner missions to Venus' Mercury, md Mars md the Pioneer md Voyager explorations of planets md s~elli~s in He outer solar system' md concluded in the I990s with the Galileo, NEAR, md Deep Space ~ explorations of Steroids md domed.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY 157 Today, as ~ result' only ~e myriad newly discovered object within the Kuiper Belt including ~e Pluto-Charon system arid relend bodies such as Cm~urs arid Trojar~s' remain entirely unexplored by spacecraft. A new phase of explorationbegar~ win ~e Viking missions to Mars (launched in I975~, ~e Magellar~ mission to V=us (launched in 1989~' ~e Galileo mission to Jupiter arid its sullies (launched in 1989), arid the Cassini- Huygens mission now en roux to Saturn arid Titers. The goals of Base missions reflected ~ new focus: more intensive exploration' including ~e lading md ~e emplacement of atmospheric proms. The science objectives and from first-order recor~r~aissmce to deviled chemical arid physical explorations of relend objects to determine Heir origins md to ascertain ~e processes thy shaped their identities, md, for ~e first time' to search for life beyond Earth. Today, we find the focus sharpening further' following the 1996 armouncement thy ~ meteoric' ALH84~' which likely originated on Mars' showed evidence' albeit of ~ highly controversial nature' of possible past life activity on thy plmet.7 The claims concerning ALH84~' though questioned from ~e outset arid now generally di~redi~d, triggered ~ series of subsequent scientific, political' arid programmatic initiatives thy have had ~ very positive impact on solar system exploration. Prime among the benefits was the so called Origins enhar~eement to NASA's budget for FY 1998. Since ~en, He Mars component of NASA,s Solar System Exploration program has enjoyed increased support md has developed according to strategies sometimes termed ``Seek' in situ' md sample,' arid ``Follow He wa~r.~' These strategies are ultimately aimed ~ determining He conditions of Mars arid whether life ever arose on ~~ plar~et. The program of geological' geoehemieal, md geophysical explorations now under way is preparatory to the future return of matrix samples from Mars to terres~ia1 laboratories md is directed in part to resolve these questions. Other observations have initiated this redirection in mission focus. For example' magnetie-f~eld measure- men~ md images from He Galileo orbiter in He late 1990s strongly suggest ~~ ~ 100-km-deep global ocem of water, ~ possible abode of life' may currently reside below He icy crust of the Jovian satellite Europa. Similar magnetic characteristics also indie ate possible subsurface ocems within C~ymede md C~listo. These measure- men~ have prompted NASA to study intensively ~ orbital mission to begin deviled probing of Europe putative ocem. Simultaneously' in He crucial area of Earth-based studies, NASA instituted the well-funded Astrobiology program in He late 1990s. lleseareh funded Trough NASA,s preexisting Exobiology program resulted in He discovery of He ~ree-domain, phylogenetie tree of life md revealed He evolutionary signifiemee of organisms from environments previously thought to be incompatible win carbon-based life (e.g., hot springs md deep-sea vents).8 That such organisms extremophiles occur on Earn wherever liquid water exists has expanded our notion of what constitutes ~ habitable world. This md over related discoveries prompted NASAL informed eommi~nent to the search for life elsewhere in the solar system as ~ significant aspect of id exploration stringy. Astrobiology as does its intellectual precursor' exobiology has ~ reciprocal relationship win solar system exploration. It provides guidance for mission design md ~ framework for interpreting new discoveries. Originally concerned with ea~loging observations of phenomena ~~ might be characteristic of life found in regions beyond Earthts atmospheres astrobiologist now study all processes thy are associated with the formation' population' md extinction of habitable worlds.~°~i ~ The intellectual goals of this scientific discipline embrace Tree questions: How does life begin md develop: Does life exist elsewhere in the universe: What is the future of life on Earn md beyond: Astrobiology~s multidisciplinary Trust provides ~ integrating theme, bringing together ~ subs~tia1 fraction of the issues in solar system exploration under the common Tread of understanding plme~ry habitability. [lather than merely addressing the distribution of life in the universe' astrobiologists are concerned win clarifying He d~amiea1 past of He solar system that led to terrestrial plme~ md their satellites' the interplme~ry hmsport meehmisms responsible for cross-solar-system redistribution' the history of volatile md organdies, the processes (exospheric md surficial) thy affect He evolution of vol~iles md the formation of habitable planets' prebiotie chemist md the emergence of life, the influence of impaetors on the survival of living systems' md all processes that lead to loss of He habitability of solar system objects. Astrobiology has both empirical md experimental dimensions. It seeks ~ historical accounting of the evolutionary processes that guided solar system formation md the emergence of life on Earth. At the same time, astrobiology aspires to underbody Trough multidisciplinary experimentation, the theoretical basis of how md why these processes occur.

758 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R DIM Astrobiology as ~ Demo provides ~ scientific organizational structure ~~ integrals ~ wide subset of solar system issues arid questions thy spars the origins' evolution, arid extinction of life. This theme allows nonexper~ to grasp the commotions between different component disciplines within plenary science arid to do so in ~ way thy most people will appreciate as addressing core themes in hum art thought. Astrobiology arid id connections to space science tared solar system exploration in particular) are the primary metros by which NASA tries to imple- ment one of its prime objectives understar~ding lifers origins arid its distribution in the univerm. Astrobiology also has some priorities ~~ are intimately cor~r~d to arid rely on perry exploration. Scientific objectives mentioned lair in this survey of solar system exploration thy directly address key questions in astrobiology include the following: ~rmination of the composition, abundance, md distribution of orgar~ic materials in ~e solar system; ~ Exploration of both the politic occurs where life might emerge arid ~e radiation environment ~ ~e surface arid near-surface regions of Europa arid the over Galilear~ sa~lli~s; ~ Detailed de~rmin~ion of the elemental' chemical, isotopic, md miner~ogica1 composition of the surfaces arid upper Grubs of planets arid sa~lli~s (including Mars' outer solar system sullies' arid icy objected; ~ Investigation of the nature of atmospheric evolution arid geochemistry on Venus arid Mars relative to thy on Earn in order to understand the po~tia1 for perry evolution into habitable versus shrill worlds; ~ Description of ~e detailed history of impactors arid their po~ntia1 influence on ~e evolution of ~rres~ia1 biospheres; md ~ Further exploration of Mars, including ~ deviled search for subsurface liquid wear md possible ground- ice inventories, full determination of surface mineralogy' md assessment of possible spatial md ~mpora1 juxtapo- sition of liquid wear md sources of energy that could support life. NASA's Astrobiology program has become ~ fundamental part of Be solar system exploration strategy. The SSE Survey encourage NASA to continue the integration of astrobiology Friend oh~ectives with thme of other space-wience disciplines+ Astrohiologi~l expertise should he called upon when identifying optimal minion strategies and design requirements for flight-yualified instrument that will address key questions in astrobiology and planetary science+ The goals for solar system exploration advocated in this report are sufficiently comprehensive to be resilient to the kind of minor readjustments in focus just described. ~ ~ real sense' todays objectives' as rephrased ~ He begir~E~ing of this section' define what the SSE Survey believes solar system exploration is md should be. How- ever, as discoveries are made' eh~ges in emphasis among these Crush are inevitable. Today, solar system exploration focuses predominantly on questions of habitability md He possible exis~nee of extraterrestrial life. The Presidentts 2003 budget for example' proposes the New Frontiers program with precisely this overarching goal. The SSE Survey interprets this objective broadly' since my plan to address the possible existence of extraterrestrial life presupposes ~ extensive investigation of plme~ry evolution md of He planetary conditions that are conducive to the development of living organisms. In this regard, it should be noted that some of He primary goals of astrobiology em be met most efficiently Trough understanding p~ieular plmet~ bodies md the way that they fit into the broad context of the solar system as ~ whole. It is difficult to judge with eonf~denee He degree to which He goals of the in~rnationa1 eommuni~ have Blared to parallel those of He United Scams. Certainly the Soviet program shared the same early emphasis on lunar exploration md sample return, but it was originally more clearly focused on robotic investigations md techniques. Soviet recor~E~aissmee missions to Venus md Mars quickly followed' win significant successes in robotic ladings on the hellish surface of Venus. 1lecor~E~aissmee of He solar system by other nations experienced grew success In me incus' wan me first explorations of Comet Halley~s nucleus by the Vega' Giotto, Suisei' md Sakigake spaceport. Together' these missions filled in ~ almost-empty paradigm with unexpee~d details concerning the nature of biometry aetivily md He composition of biometry solids. Today He incarnations community is mounting major geophysical md geoehemiea1 explorations of the Moon, Mars, comets' md asteroids win the Selene' Nozomi' Mars Express' Beagle 2, Smart I' loosen' md MUSES-C missions. . ,~ ~ ~ ~~ · . ~ . ~ ~

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY RECENT A~IIEVEMENTS IN SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION AND RELATED FIELDS 159 Our perceptions of our perry neighborhood have Den overturned since the spwe age dawned. Don of light in the night sky have been har~sformed into exquisite worlds displaying bizarre phenomena softly hued vortices swirling past Jupi~r~s Red Spot enormous Rayons arid outflow washes crisscrossing hIars, or austerely beautiful rings encircling each of ~e girt plar~ets. The remarkable diversity arid activity of ~e solar system were fondly unexpected by perry scimlis~ arid were forecast by just ~ few others' but mostly as science fiction. To illustrate the vi~lity of the discipline, it may be instructive to mention just ~ few of ~e findings since the publication of the last solar system survey less ~m decade ago.~3 Most of ~~e new understar~dings lead to additional questions. To identify the most import=" discoveries of the past decade, ~e SSE Surveys Sharing Group relied upon community input to in parcels (~e Part One), along win independent surveys of the scientific community arid ~e public (see Appendixes ~ arid D). Box 6.1 lists ~e most significar~t additions to our underfunding of the solar system' while Box 6.2 outlines ~ half down of the most vexing md mysterious issues facing plenary scientists today. A plethora of exhasolar diary Blarney, whose orbital characteristics have startled theoreticians' have been discovered elsewhere in our galaxy. Indeed, perhaps ~ percent of main sequence stars have massive eomp~ions' but He ubiquity of terrestrial-like plar~e~ remains urn own. Simultaneously, dust disks have been found to commonly enshroud most young stars' md even some aged ones. These observations suggest that He formation of planets is not unusual. llesearehers now wish to use ground-based telescopes md future spaceport, such as Kepler md the Space In~rferome~ Mission (SIhi)' to observe ~ s~tistiea1 sample of ex~asolar planets in order to better undersold He origin md evolution of planets systems. Such studies will eventually be extended to He search for Ear~-like plme~ md' ultimately' will eharae~rize their ahnospheres md Heir habitability with advanced orbital observ~o- ries such as the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission. Our understanding will be improved if we use the properties of our own gas gibe to calibrate the processes exhibited in other plme~ry systems md to obtain clues to the primordial composition of the solar system. Since the first Kuiper Belt object was detected in 1992, hundreds more have been sighted, disclosing ~ large extension to the solar system beyond Neptune. Similar structures are inferred to explain He oldest of the extrasolar disks. We are in He midst of compiling the first catalog of this territory thy circumscribes the outer solar system so as to unravel id morphology md makeup md to allow ~ understanding of id relationship to He formation of the solar system.

Ado HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM The discovery of possible subsurface ocems on several Calilem sa~lli~s has led to the recognition of ~ possible but unexpected abode for life beyond Earn. The current goals are to identify md Carmine the extent of my such subsurface ocem. Simultaneously we must rethink our imps of habitable zones. Evidence continues to Cumuli indicting ~~ water flowed on or near the martim surface in geologically reeenttimes. This, together with indications of subsurface reservoirs of fee md geological aetivily' suggests that the lied Planet might have been hospitable to life in its past. We now should continue to document He nature of my put habitable climate md to characterize Be extent of subsurface wear md fee to see how closely Hey approach the surface. In situ investigations for water md evidence of pad or present life should also be eondue~d. Aeeeptmee of the possibility of extraterrestrial life has progressed markedly during the past decade. Illush~- ing this are claims made for extinct life forms in the ancient martim meteoric ALH84~. While these claims have been sharply disputed' the debate has been on scientific terms md has concerned the validity of He evidence. This new perception in pad also results from He concurrent discovery of terrestrial ex~emophiles. This discovery encourages ~ continuing search for md examination of other martim meteorites for biological evidence. Also' samples of known provenance should be returned to Earn for their mineralogies md isotopic characterization md ultimately to verify my in situ hiologiea1 evidence. As ~ find example of He advances made in the last decade, scientist in He I99Os realized the crucial role of impacts in aItering lifers paw once they identified the Chixulub eraser in He Yuea~ as responsible for He Cret~eeous-Tertiary (K-T) extinctions on Earn. In the same period' the pummeling of Jupiter with He remand of Comet Shoemaker-Levy ~ reminded us all of He ubiquitous md continuing role of collisions in shaping plme~ry bodies. As ~ result of these findings' we now recognize that we mud survey He skies for threading

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY NEOs md maintain ~ wash for po~ntia1 impactors. To make Base identifications useful' we also need to determine relevar~t physical arid compositional properties of po~ntia1 impactors, including combs. THE RELATIONSHIP OF SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION TO SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES The success of ~ solar system exploration mission relies crucially on the well-being of ~ wide rage of scientific investigations arid effective engineering To ~ of value' missions nof only must reach their Urged quickly arid win adequate power arid stability, but also must produce signif`~ar~t scientific dam thy address ~e scientific goals fond previously. Scientific investigations are usually drawn from various established disciplines' including perry science' geophysics' geology' atmospheric physics' cosmochemistry, fluid mechanics' me~oritics, space plasma physics, astrobiology' arid aeronomy to name but ~ few. This point is made to emphasize ~e wide array of scientific disciplines thy are informed by solar system exploration. The interaction anthem ~e disciplines arid missions flows both ways solar system exploration missions rely on ~ healthy scientific community for support arid direction' md the value of ~e missions is dramatically Ahead by research thy capitalizes on resumed dam. The nations solar system exploration en~rprim is driven by ~e high-leve1 public goals outlined above' but it is not possible without strong support for the scientific arid engineering backbone of ~e program. This support is currently lacking in several areas' which are detailed lair in this report. THE SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION PllOGlIAM AT NASA. INTERREL ATIONS HIPS Relationship with Other Science Program Solar system exploration is currently overseen by two components of NASA's Office of Space Science (OSS): the hears Exploration Program (hIEP) office md the Solar System Exploration Division. This dual responsibility is recent md was apparently imposed to ensure that the exploration of Mars could progress ~ as rapid ~ pace as possible without being fettered by my problems ~~ might arise in the more general program. The Solar System Exploration program is strongly coupled seientif~eally to over separately mmaged programs in NASA. Within the OSS, He strongest scientific md programmatic bonds are to the Sun-Earth Erections Division md He Astronomy md Physics Division. The Sun-Earth Cormeetions (SEC) Division sponsors research in solar md space physics with particular emphasis, as id name implies, on He Suns effects on the terres~ia1 space environment. However' space physics research is not only concerned with solar-terreshia1 relations but also encompasses study of the space environments of over solar system bodies. SEC strategic plying documents Bus typically include missions to inve~iga~ plme~ry magnetospheres' ionospheres' md upper a~nospheres.~4 A major thrust in He Sun-Ear~ Cormeetions Division is He Living With ~ Star program its purpose is to understand these Sun-Earth eormeetions for very practical applications. This program overlaps with planets wienee by aiming to help unravel how plme~ interact win solar insolation md the heliosphere' in order to understand the past md future climate md the gaseous md plasma environments of one very well studied plmet. The astronomy md astrophysics flightprogram eondue~d by the Astronomy md Physics Division is mmaged as two separate thematic groups, Structure md Evolution of the Universe md Astronomical Search for Origins. lloughly speaking, the forgery activities are molly devoted to high-energy astrophysics' whereas He lantern activities are devoted to less-energetic phenomena that are more relevant to the ingress of solar system explora- tion' but not exclusively so. Planetary science has benefited enormously from Astronomical Search for Origins missions such as He Hubble Space Telescope (HST), md it expects more discoveries from the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIFTS), the Sh~ospherie Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), md other future space observatories (see below). Future Origins missions such as SIM md TPF are essential to extending plme~ry exploration beyond our own solar system, searching for other planets systems' md then mounting

HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM spectroscopic investigations of extrasolar ply for evidence of biospheres. We me here examples of the among in~rrel~ionship between studies relying to solar system exploration arid astronomical origins. One provi~s very detailed look ~ one example of perry formation md evolution, while the other provi~s marry examples of ~ wide variety of systems win different structures arid ~ different sages of evolution. Plar~ry science also has strong scientific links to NASAL Office of Earth Science (OES). Earn is the most innately studied Claret from space. Hence ~e science md observational techniques developed in OES are vital for the continuing development of perry science arid observations. The major Crust in OES is the Global Charge program, from which plenary science will gain ~ understanding of Earth as ~ ~rreshia1 planet among the four inner ply md will obtain dam esmntia1 to understanding the origin arid evolution of ~ ~rres~ia1 perry biosphere. Studies of the Ionosphere arid plasma environment of solar system bodies have men ~ in~gra1 part of ~e general solar system exploration effort since the launch of Mariner 2 in 1962 md are traditionally supported by NASA's Solar System Exploration program. Historically, some small but very imports funding has also come from NASAL space physics activities arid the Nations Science Foundations astronomy arid atmospheric science programs. This orgar~iz~iona1 arrar~gement made sense in He past arid will continue to do so in He future' especially for in situ studies because spaceport traveling to various solar system bodies earl arid should carry ~ wide Urge of instrumentation. Examples of such successful undertakings are He Voyagers md He Galileo arid Cassini orbits missions, as well as smaller ones such as Pioneer Venus. Comparative aeronomy md magneto- sphere studies allow the knowledge of basic physical processes Squired through He study of the geo space environment to be applied to over solar system objects md afford ~ critically impor~t opportunity to test our understanding of these processes by observing how Hey operate in other settings. Moreover' nof only are there important eormeetions between space physics md planets wienee with regard to seientif~e themes relevant to both disciplines' but the ins~umen~tion used in terreshi~ space physics research md that used in solar system exploration also frequently have ~ common heritage. Given the erosseuding interests among solar system exploration md terrestrial aeronomy md space physics studies' it is not surprising that He Space Studies Lourdes concurrent Solar md Space Physics Survey Committee also addresses some aspects of solar system exploration.5 However' the nature md relative timing of these two somewhat parallel N1~C studies did not permit as much direct eoordin~ion as would have been wished. Therefore' the recommendations assoeia~d with solar system exploration from these studies may advoea~ some different exploration strategies md priorities. These differences em md should be easy to resolve within He OSS. The excellent pasteooper~ion between He different components of He OSS md among He scientific communities has encouraged md led to major advances in He field (em., the putative discovery of ~ ocem ~ Europa by magnetie- field observations) as well as exploration efficiencies. The SSE Survey strongly encourages He eontinu~ion of this eooper~ive exploration strategy. Relationship with the Human Exploration Program The Solar System Exploration program currently has no strong scientific or programmatic ties to the humm spaceflight activities eondue~d by NASA's Office of Space Flight (OSF), although strong interactions occurred during He Apollo program. The planetary program does, however' rely on He OSF for the procurement of launch services. The major thrust in the OSF is the construction of He In~rn~iona1 Space Station (ISS)' win which no obvious eor~E~e~ion with planets exploration exists over ~m He po~tia1 of the ISS to serve as future ~mspor~tion node to He plme~ for bow humms md robots. Eventually Here must be ~ strong coupling between robotic md humm space exploration. Scientific explora- tion of the solar system md the scientific utilization of the space environment provide He impetus for humm 6~ its morrow program category' for example' the Solar Id Spam Physics Survey Committee assigned high priority to ~ Jupiter Polar hlissiorl' ~ Medicaid spay physics mission to gum high-l~itu~ eleckod~amic coupling betters Jupiter >s ionosphere Id magnetosphere.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY exploration beyond Earth orbit' arid they are ~ prerequisite for sending humerus to other worlds. Robotic missions, for example' will collect the dam necessary for sending astronauts to Mars arid back safely.~7 These precursor experiments arid measurements would provide information on target selection, surface physics arid chemistry' ~e Brew thy high~nergy particles pose during travel, md so on. ~ ~e long run' hum art exploration of our celestial neighborhood is ~ driving force in its own right but it will also furnish opportunities for significar~t science accomplishments. The SSE Survey is not convinced ~~ humeri exploration beyond Earth orbit will raise major issues for ~e perry science community during ~e coming decade. Nevertheless, it would ~ ~ mistake for scientists to dismiss out-of-har~d Nose individuals aspiring to return to ~e Moon, to walk on Mars' or to exploit ~e resources of near-Ear~ objects. This is Lue if for no other reason thm to avoid future cornice over limited resources. A prime lesson from recent humeri exploration activities is thy prior plarming by scimlis~ might preclude Shown wedding,' sometime in ~e future. ISSUES llEGAllDING THE INFRASTllUCTUllE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION PllOGlIAM It is far beyond ~e scope of this survey to give art exhau dice ar~alysis of the current performers of the entire scientific arid programmatic ir~frashucture of U.S. solar system exploration activities. However' the SSE Survey bee ame aware of several eontroversi~ issues concerning He way this infrastructure currently operates. It is hoped that raising these issues will help He audience for this report recognize He `<big picture,' of how solar system exploration is practiced today; this identification may also aid in rectifying some of its deficiencies. loch and Analysis Program It is largely through the work supported by research md analysis ~&A) programs within the Office of Space Science ~~ the dam returned by flight missions are pondered into new understanding' advancing the boundaries of what is known. The research supported by these programs also creates He knowledge neeess~ to plan He seientif~e scope of future missions. Covered under this line item are brie theory, modeling studies' laboratory experiments ground-based observations' long-term dam analysis, md eompar~ive investigations. The funds distributed by these programs support investigators ~ academic institutions' federal laboratories, nonprofit org~i- zations, md industrial corporations. 1~&A furnishes the eon~xt in which the results from missions em be correctly interpreted. Furthermore, active 1~&A programs are ~ prime breeding ground for principal investigators md Ham members of forthcoming flight missions. Healthy 1~&A programs are of paramount importune md constitute ~ necessary precondition for effective missions. This conclusion has been sated repeatedly md forcefully before md it is shared by NASA's Office of Space Science. The Tree 1~&A clusters (i.e.' Origin md Evolution of Solar System Bodies, Planets Systems Science, md Astrobiology md Plme~ry Instrumentation) most closely associated win solar system exploration were supported ~ the level of $~6 million in FY 1999. This level is now expected to rise ~ Bout 3 percent per year above the underlying ir~fl~ion ram for sever al years. This proposed rise is included in the Presidentts FY 2003 budget.20 Nevertheless, serious problems remain with these programs. The ratio of submitted to funded proposals is typically 3 to I, which the SSE Survey believes is too high' since ~ this ram new proposals em rarely be funded. Also' the availability of authorized funds is often subject to delays md' in recent times' He value of the medim grmt has fallen to below $50~000 per Mums ~ level generally too small to support ~ researcher or tuition-paid gradual student.2i The SSE Survey agrees win the Space Studies Board recommendation ~~ NASA should routinely examine the size md number of gram to ensure ~~ the grant sizes are adequate to achieve the proposed researeh.22 The Survey support the budgets proposals that would steadily expand solar system exploration 1~&A programs. The SSE Survey recommend an inere~e over the decade 2003-2013 in the funding for fun~nent~l research and ~Iysis programs at ~ rate Shove inflation to ~ level that is consistent with the augmented number of missions, amount of item and diversity of objects studied.

~4 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM R&A programs are not currently arid in the opinion of the SSE Survey should not be tied to specific mission goals. Thus, individual research projects do not correspond to particular missions. Nevertheless' as ~e breadth arid dupe of ~e space exploration missions increase' the R&A programs should expand arid be redirected correspondingly. Therefore' in ~e broadest sense, R&A programs must be responsive to the current mission opportunities even if they are not rigidly coupled to them. Previous NRC studies have shown ~~, Mar ~ serious decline in the early to mid-~9Os,~ ~e overall funding for R&A programs in NASA's Office of Space Science has, in recent years' climbed to approximately 20 percent of ~e overall flight-mission budget. Figures supplied by NASAL Solar System Exploration program show thy the corresponding value for perry activities is closer to 25 percent arid is projected to Day ~ about this 1~1 for the next several years. The SSE Survey believes thy this is art appropriate allocation of resources. Creation of Intellectual Apical Finally, to maintain arid enhance He scientific productivity of the entire solar system exploration en~rprim arid to ensure He creation of new in~llectua1 capital of the higher quality in the field, the SSE Survey recom- men~ the initiation of n program of Planetary Fellows, that is, n p~tdo~ornl program analogous to the Huhhle and Chnnilrn fellowships' which have done so much to nurture the next generation of astronomers nnil astrophysicist. The purpose of this program would be to allow the brightest young investigators He opportunity to develop independent research programs during Heir most crevice years. These would be presti- gious' multiyear fellowships' based solely on highly competitive research proposals md Enable ~ my U.~. institution. TELESCOPE FACILITIES AN ESSiENl7IAL ELEMENT OF AN INTEGRATED SiOLAll SYSTEM STRATEGY Ground-hn~ Telescopes Two major scientific findings of He pad decade' according to ~ raking by planets seienti~s (see Box 6.1 md Appendix C), were made using ground-based telescopes. The discoveries of extrasolar plme~ md of He Kuiper Belt have had ~ undeniable impact on our perception of our surrounding solar system md Bus on He optimal strategies for future spaceport missions. Except for the major plmets out to md including Saturn, all of the bodies of He solar system' including all those visited by spacecraft were discovered by ground-based telescopes. Spacecraft provide invaluable in situ dam on objects ~~ were firm identified from the ground. Utilization of He enormous discovery po~ntia1 of ground-based telescopes is ~ essential part of ~ integrated stringy for solar system exploration. Telescopes are vital in sever al ways. Fired they provide He Urged to which flight missions em lair be directed. A prime example is thy of He Kuiper BelL which emerged in the I990s as ~ vast unexplored And previously only postulated) <~third domain', of He solar system beyond He realms of He terrestrial md Mint plme~. Even our yet-preliminary understanding of the dummies of the objects beyond Neptune has led to wide aceep~ee of the outward migration of proto-Neptune ~ He solar systems dawn. Another example of ~ <<found', population is that of the near-Earth objects, which are now understood to pose ~ po~ntia1 impact Grew to Earth but also could be exploitable both for sample return md as springboards for future humm exploration missions.25 NEOs present such attractive Freed for spacecraft missions because some of them require He expenditure of less energy for rendezvous than ~~ needed for my other plme~ry bodies. For this reason' some have argued ~~, in He long Arms NEOs may become economically attractive sources of minerals md metals ~~ are comparatively inaccessible on Earth. NEOs include both asteroids md dormant comets. While He existence of this population has been recognized for mmy decades, systematic surveys eondue~d over the past ~ years have mmaged to discover only about two- thirds of the NEOs with sizes greater ~m ~ km ~~ are thought to exist. It is also just within the past decade that the terreshia1 heard from these bodies has been widely Steeped.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY ~5 A second way in which ground-based telescopes are importers is the Hey provide ongoing support for spacecraft missions, both before arid Mar ~e mission. As art example' NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility,~ (IRTF,s) thermal imaging of ~e Galileo promos end sin showed the the probe descended through art Typical "hot spot,, in Jupi~r~s cloud tops. This knowledge has proven crucial to ~e scientific in~rpret~ion of ~e compositional dam returned by the probe arid in particular in explaining why ~e measured wear abundances were unexpectedly low. Similarly' the success of ~e S~rdust md pep Impact missions crucially depends upon ongoing ground-based charw~riz~ion of Weir target domed. The mission-funded studies of ~e Deep Impact target, for example, have grimly reduced ~e volume of parameter space thy mud be considered by the mission designers. Moreover, events associated with the impact into the target will be observed by ~lemopes around ~e world, complementing observations made by ~e spacecraft~s instrument. Another good example of mission support concerns ground-based studies of the physical charw~ristics of ~e asteroids Gaspra arid Ida prior to ~e encounters of the Galileo spacecraft. In ~ much broader sense, Ear~-based observations provide the context for mission result. Earth-based studies alone have allowed us to develop taxonomic systems for asteroids md comets. It is through Best cl~sific~ion schemes thy it is possible, for example, to expired ~e interpretation of result from the Near-Ear~ Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) missioner studies of Eros to other similar asteroids. Ground-based plar~e~ry radar facilities ~ Areeibo' Puerto Rico, arid Coldstone' California, are used for detailed, physical eharae~riz~ion of marry different bodies in the solar system. Much ofthe initial recormaissar~ee of Venues surface was eondue~d win the Areeibo telescope' providing valuable input to md context for sub- sequent radar studies undertaken by the Moselle mission. The same facility has also identified highly reflective area on Mercury thought to be due to fee located in permanently shadowed craters in Me plmet~s polar regions. Similarly, He Coldstone facility he been used to study the bulk surface properties of the icy Calilem Bellies. Both facilities have been employed to `~Doppler-image', several near-Ear~ asteroids, providing information on their shape, surface roughness' composition' md spin stalk in addition to dramatically improving measurements of their orbit. Although impor~t to solar system exploration, planets radar studies ~ both Areeibo md Coldstone are highly leveraged activities. Roughly 90 percent of the Areeibo budget is provided by NSF to support general radio astronomy studies. Similarly, the bulk of He Coldstone funding arises from id role as ~ eommunie~ions hub in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). NASA continues to play ~ major role in supporting the use of Earth-based optical telescopes for planetary studies. It funds the complex operations of He I1lTF, ~ 3-m-diameter telescope lowland on Hawaiits Mauna Kea. In return for amess to 50 percent of He observing time for non-solar-system observations, He NSF supports He development of IllTF,s ins~umen~tion. This telescope has provided vital dam in support of flight missions (as described above) md will continue to do so. NASA currently purchases one-sixth of He observing time on He privately operand Keek 10-m telescopes. This time was purchased to test in~rferome~ie techniques in support of future spaceflight missions such as SIM md TPF. However' the fraction of He NASA time available for general solar system observations is rapidly shrinking as He Keek interferometers come online. The SSiE Survey recn~nen~ that NASA continue to support ground-h=ed oh~ervatories for planetary science, including the planetary rear ~pahility at the Areciho Oh~ervatory in Puerto Ciao and at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone facility in Californian the Infrared Telescope Facility on Maunn Kea in Hawaii, and shares of cutting-edge telescopes such ~ the Keek telescopes on Mung Kea' ~ long ~ they continue to he critical to missions andlor wientiB'~lly productive+ Interestingly' NASA has no systematic survey eapabilily to discover the population distribution of He solar system bodies. To do this' NASA relies on research crams to individual observers who must gain access to their own facilities. The large NEOs are being efficiently discovered using small telescopes for which NASA provides instrumentation funding, but all the other solar system populations for example, comer' Centaurs, satellites of the outer planets, md Kuiper Belt objects are being characterized almost entirely using non-NASA facilities. This is ~ major deficiency' since ~ large-aperture survey telescope will be essential to support the flight-mission strategy (for example, by selecting md characterizing key targets of the mission) developed in Chapter 8' where the SSE Survey makes ~ strong related recommendation.

HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM Space-~l Telescopes Marty significar~t discoveries in perry science have come from Earth-orbiting telescopes operating variety of different wavelengths. Them discoveries include ~e following: The unexpected detection of strong x-ray emissions from comer; Studies of joviar~ atmospheric chemistry based on HST observations of ~e impact of Shoemaker-Levy into Junior; arid 1 ~ The discovery of ~ serfs strong wear emission ~~ is best in~rpre~d as the evaporation of icy bodies in the outer plenary system of the star. The ar~ticipa~d launch of SIRTF arid the flight of SOFIA will provide additional superb tools for perry science, particularly in determining absolute sins md ~e surface reflectivity of numerous objects in the Kuiper Belt. The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) made major contributions to our understanding about ~e nature arid provenance of in~rplm~ary dust. Win the exception of the recently relend Kepler mission in ~e Discovery program, these orbiting ~lemopes have been built arid operand under the auspices of NASA's nonplar~ programs. Indeed, because of ~e commonality of the tools used by ply - astronomers arid Heir colleagues inbreed in stellar, galactic' arid extragalactic phenomena, virtually every major ~tronomica1 mission thy has flown has made some significant contribution to solar system exploration. The clom coincidence between the ins~umen~tion used by planetary md other astronomers makes it urmeeessary for the SSE Survey to recommend ~ major Earth-orbiting telescope devoted exclusively to solar system studies. The Survey prefers to rely on He Discovery md' where appropriate' the Explorer lines to general appropriate e~dida~s. It is noted' however' that using Earth-orhiting facilities for planetary oh~ervations impm~ special Unstrung notably the need to tram fling target and the SSE Survey endorses the incorporation of this technically difficult hut essential ~pahility on ~11 relevant tronomi~l teletypes. DATA A1IClIIVING The Planets Da~ System (PBS) was developed to provide the archiving function through working seien- tists; in astrophysics' dam archiving is provided by the operating entities for He Hubble Space Telescope md He other Grew Observatories. The budgets for early Discovery missions (e.g., Lunar Prospector) md teehnology- demonshation acidities (e.~., the Department of Defense is Clementine md NASA's Deep Space I) made no provision for archive products. As ~ result dam from these missions have been very little analyzed. The recent success of He NEAR mission md its return of ~ huge volume of dam ~ order of magnitude more thm when He mission was plied have highlighted the importance of archiving as ~ separate activity within solar system exploration. These events have also illustrated mmy of the pitfalls in establishing ~ archive from ~ highly productive mission that was budgeted in He Discovery range. The risk exists that He scientific return from solar system exploration missions will be smaller thm ideal as small' prineipal-inve~igator-led missions proliferate. Although it is too early to judge' it appears ~~ the Mars program he already begun to ensure thy archiving will be well handled. At present, the PBS appears to have insufficient resources for the job it has been given. Moreover' only rarely is the PDS involved ~ ~ scientific parker ~ ~ missions outset. By eonbast' ~ new instrument for HST is developed win eonsider~ion for He pipeline processing md archiving from the outset. The PBS faces two distinct challenges in the immediate future He diversity md number of missions on the one had md the volume of dam on the over. The interaction with mmy different missions is currently severely stressing He capability of the PBS. On the technological front He Mars llecormaissmee Orbiter alone is projected to return ~ least 300 terab~es of dark ~ volume exceeding that of all He Grew Observatories combined md presenting ~ major challenge to He PBS.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY ~7 The increasing attention paid to archiving plans in the recent rounds of Discovery selections he been ~ pep forward, as has the recent support by ~e Mars program' although ~e overall situation remains unsatisfactory. The SSE Survey noose for example' ~~ all Discovery proposals are required to budget ~ to 2 percent of their total cost for education md public outreach (ElPO)' ~ valuable activity thy is also highly leveraged with ex~rna1 resources. The total amount of money spent on preparing archival produce by arty mission is small compared to this, win ~e only leveraging Ding in the PUS budget, except in the special case of non-NASA missions for which Bare is large leveraging Trough ~e outside agency. This is ~e funding thy is intended to provide ~e complex archival product ready for use by ~e research community. The PBS is funded, ~ present just to maintain suitable standards, to advim the missions, md to distribute ~e archival products' nof to prepare ~em. The SSE Survey bows thy in marry cases the experience resident in the PBS could lead to more efficient prepar~ion of archives if the PBS scientists were involved ~ the earliest stages. Furthermore, subs~tia1 community demand exists for access to the large databases of E~h-based dam produced through NASA's R&A programs—dam ~~ are in general nof archived with the PBS for lack of resources. Enhar~emen~ to either the POS or mission budged would enable dam archiving The SSE Survey strongly encourages exploration of ways to accomplish the following+ Improve the early involvement of the PUS with missions, Inere~e the PUS budget anal streamline id pr~ures, while not lowering standards or eliminating peer reviews' in order to deal with the Ott' perhaps considering the function to he funded at n fixed fraction' such ~ 1 percent of the minion development and operations budget in addition to n small hue budget' to ensure that the PDS On cope with varying amounts of Forgiving' and ~ Ensum that missions ~ well ~ 11&A projects producing large Ton hem have ndeqante funding for ~ + + proper nrenl~ng+ DATA-ANALYSIS PllOGlIAMS A crucial task in ceding scientific value from solar system exploration missions is to properly org~ize md adequately fund strong d~-~alysis programs ~APs). In order to maintain momentum' DAPs for the eommunily should be ready to support investigators immediately upon He delivery of ready-to-use dam to Be PDS. This would allow continuity for investigators on short-lifetime missions that have reached their end, md it would Flow outsiders sufficient monies to promptly attack scientific questions based on the dam. ~ addition to providing adequate funding' several over procedural steps mud occur. Preliminary versions of the ultimate archival materials must be delivered regularly throughout the mission to avoid delays in the availability of final products ~ Be missions end. This requires the involvement of the PBS ~ ~ scientific parker very early in Be mission. It also requires describing' in some devils the tenant of Be archive sufficiently before the DAP proposals are due, so that proposers em make sensible proposals before Be dam themselves become public. It also mandates ~~ investigators be able to propose across missions when scientific questions clearly transcend individual missions. NASA's stand intent to merge albeit ~ number of years in Be future the DAPs for individual Discovery program missions into ~ single DAP for the Discovery program appears to be ~ step in Be right direction. This could allow ~ researcher' for example' to coherently analyze dam from the several missions to comets, md, similarly, ~ Mars-da~ analysis program could allow ~ researcher to eompar~ively interpret dam from sever al missions of the Mars program. The SSE Survey urges that these d~- analysis programs be kept sufficiently flexible so that it is structurally easy to add ~ component for analyzing dam from other sources' such as from technology missions Deep Space ~ dam from comet I9P~orrelly (Figure 6.l represents ~ current example or from foreign missions archiving win Be PDS (Mars Express, for example). NASA's Grew Observatories, most no~bly Trough Be Space Telescope Science Institute (STSeI), but also other Grew Observatories' have conclusively demonstrated the grew value of ~ uniform' readily accessible archive coupled with support for the analysis of the dam by the original investigators as well as by others who use Be archived dam for research. Each scientific user of ~ Grew Observatory is funded to analyze the dam obtained in his or her program' md Be mission itself maintains ~ long-~rm archive. Because the Grew Observatories are

Ads HEW FR0~ IN =E SOLAR MOM FIGURE b. ~ A closeup image of ~e nucleus of Ant 19P~orrelly obeying by ~e D=p Spat ~ spacecraft. Courts of NASA/JPL. archiving large volumes of d~a from only ~ few instruments operated over ~ very long time' the archiving process becomes highly automated, md dam appear in the archive Epically within days of being obtained Ad long before they become publicly available. The dam in He archive become public after ~ short period' varying from one observatory to mother' but usually in no more than ~ year Ad sometimes immediately. Come da~ are in the public domain' other investigators em obtain funding to analyze them. Because Be observing programs are publicly known even before the observations are carried out investigators em plan them to apply for support to begin analysis immediately Her He proprietary validation period has ended. STSeI finds thy the typical datum (one image or spectrum) is used in ~ least several separate investigations beyond that of the original observer. The accumulated download of dam is mmy times larger than the tool amount of dam in the archive. This archival research has led to major discoveries Ad also has dramatically improved He plying for future missions. The success of astrophysical archives has given bird to the National Virtual Observatory ( - O) initiative that should make the archives even more productive in the future.26 In solar system exploration' examples of the value of archives are diverse. The Geosciences Node of He Plme~ry Da~ System' for example' digitized the microfilm d~a from He Viking Labeled-release Experiment

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY thus Idling ~ new t~ of investigation searching for evidence of circadian rhythms in ~e dam. The Small Bodies Node (SON) provided archival in~rpre~tion of ~e Gio~o trajectory for art investigator Peking to discover if ~e nucleus of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup is binary. The archives are also used extensively for plarming future missions, all the way from the proposal stage through devils of spacecraft arid mission ~sign. ~vestig~ors have written lepers to ~e SON highlighting how Hey have used ~e online do particularly the database on Ear~- based comparative dam on domed arid asteroids' to Flare Discovery program proposals. Solar system exploration missions operas entirely differently from ~e Greg Observatories in marry ways. The missions And to ~ of fixed duration' arid all but the Flagship missions usually have short lifetimes ~~ make it impractical for the mission Cams to eider develop or maintain ~ longhorn archive. The mission Cams rarely have arty expertise in archiving, Id the dam produce from ~e Cams often have grossly different formed win widely varying degrees of documentation. Furthermore' solar system exploration missions do not themselves include extensive, funded programs for guest observers, who effectively serve as user-reviewers of ~e archival pipeline. Da~-ar~alysis programs' established to allow research on the information returned from solar system exploration missions' have been hit-or-miss, often underfunded' of too short duration (e.~.' the Venus D~- An~ysis arid Jupiter Da~-An~ysis programs), or nonexistent (e.g.' the Galileo Europa arid Millermium Mission extensions). On over occasions, funding is delayed to such art exams thy research programs risk losing momen- tum (e.g.' for the NEAR mission). To obtain Be maximum value from the scientific dam returned from solar system exploration missions' it is essential to properly execute two intimately related activities. The first of these is to ensure that the archiving entity, the Plme~ry Da~ System' has the necessary resources for the job md is heated as ~ important scientific component of each mission from the outset. The second is to dramatically improve Be d~-~alysis programs. SAMPLE-llETl3RN FACILITIES As part of NASA,s Solar System Exploration program' samples will be returned from extr~errestria1 bodies. Sample-return missions already under way include Be S~rdust md Genesis missions of NASA md the MUSES-C mission of Jacobs Institute of Space md Ashonautiea1 Sciences (ISAS). Samples from these missions carry plme~ry protection designation of Restricted Earth Return. They will be curded in dedicated facilities the Johnson Space Center md distributed to qualified scientist for investigation. Samples returned from objects of biological interest (e.g., hears md Europa) are subject to quarantine restrictions in ~ sample quarantine facility that em preserve the pristine nature of the samples md prevent back-eon~mination of Ear. Mars Quarantine Facility Sever al N1~C studies outline the contingent requirements for samples returned from h~rs.29 Win the exception of samples returned from Europa, Were are few constraints on samples returned from small solar system objee~.~° The recent N1~C report on the Mars Quarantine Facility ~0F) stresses that ~ minimum of 7 years will be required for Be design, eonshuetion, md commissioning of Be M9F, md that it must be operating up to 2 years prior to the arrival of martim samples. The purpose of the M0F is threefold: to sequester unaltered samples until hioh=ard testing is complete' to preserve the pristine nature of the samples' md to release samples deemed to be nonhazardous to ~ sample eur~ion facility for allocation for further scientific study. The technology required for containment md asking for pathogens is well developed. Biohazard assessment mud also consider Be potential ecological Bread posed by returned samples. Sample containment must preserve the samples in ~ pristine condition' without inorganic md organic eontamin~ion. Technology for He preservation of samples similar to thy used for lunar samples in He Lunar Cur~oria1 Facility ~ the Johnson Space Center is well developed. However' He eombin~ion of biocontainment md preservation of samples in their pristine condition requires ~ unique design for He M0F that no currently existing facility provides. Another important design feature should be the potential for expansion, if early findings of definite evidence of extraterreshia1 life warrmt the need for all studies to be performed under eontainment.~i The cost of building such ~ specialized quarantine facility needs to be investigated.

770 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM In addition to Walloping ~e Ethnology to satisfy the design constraints for ~e M9F, it is also importmt to initiate ~ program to Dunlop key research arid ar~al~ica1 tools. These include' for example' the development of criteria for ~e following: Biohazard assessment, Definition of life arid of standards for life detection thy minimize sample sin requirements' S~riliz~ion of samples for po~ntia1 early release' arid Re1~e from con~inmmt of samples deemed to be safe. A vigorous research arid ar~alysis program must address Base issues: Enhanced sterilization techniques thy will minimally compromise ~e interim of returned samples' arid Highly sensitive techniques for life detection. The sample-h~dling requirements for geochemic~ arid biological investigations arid for specific biohazard Aping are not necessarily compatible. The NRC has recommended thy ~ advisory commi~e oversee ~e design arid construction of the MQF arid ~~ this group "will be ultimately responsible for ~e disposition arid handling of samples in the MQF until Hey are judged to ~ safe for release.~32 This committee should also be cognizant of ~e processes for collecting ~e samples on hears md for allotting the samples for scientific study once Hey are released to the Mars Curatorial Facility. The SSE Survey endorses the Unkept that ~ single advisory structure supervise ~11 mpecis of resumed Mars sample ~lle~ion' containment' ~ara~eri~tion and hamrd =sess- ment' and allocation. This advisory structure might he international in composition+ Sample Curatorial Facilities To preventcross-con~min~ion between samples from different plmet~ bodies, the samples mud be handled in separate facilities. The Mars Curatorial Facility' for example, will be required once He martim samples are shown to be environmentally safe. Construction of such ~ facility is considered to be consistent with current practice md experience' for example' for lunar samples md Antarctic meteorites. Sample allocations from He Lunar Curatorial Facility md from the Antarctic Memorize Laboratory are under He guidance of advisory committees (the Cur~ion md Analysis Plying Team for Exhaterreshia1 Materials md the Meteorite Working Group). These advisory committees are the successors of the Lunar Sample Analysis Plying Team, which oversaw the preliminary examination of the returned lunar samples md lunar sample allocations. These eommit- tees best exemplify the advisory commits proposed above for the oversight md analysis plying for Mars samples. The Need for an Early S~nple-lletum Progrmn When addressing the future of solar system exploration' it is clear that ~ natural process of maturation he occurred. Missions have progressed from recormaissmee flyby md orbiter missions, to deviled eharaeteriz~ion from more sophistiea~d' long-lived orbiters md from landed missions with in situ investigations, to sample return from small bodies' md finally to future sample-return missions from planets' comet surfaces, md asteroids. Science questions tied to samples returned from diverse planetary environments form ~ prominent theme in He individual panel reports of Part Me that lead to mmy of the specific mission recommendations for He next decade (see Shaper 8~. This recurring emphasis on sample return is ~ direr result of He sophisticated level of scientific questions thy em now be posed md answered. There is nevertheless ~ host of interwoven issues md requirement for each of the sample-return missions' mmy of which would benefit from ~ thorough md in~gra~d approach.

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY 777 These issues were addressed by some of the parted reports (see, for example' Shaper 2~. The broad common categories the mud be addressed by each mission include the following: Consideration of the metros by which ~ sample is acquired md returned to Earn. Although each perry environment is different ~e Ethnology required for implementation often applies to more chart one situation. Experience gained in one environment may provide valuable benchmarks for armorer. Examples include Best: Experim~ win end-to-=d ~qumcing for lunar sample acquisition would provide confidence in under~k- ing the more complex Mars sample return; The architecture for returning samples from ~e Mars graviW-well could be comparable to ~~ needed for similar Venus activity; arid Anchoring ~ spacecraft on arid Squiring samples from ~ low-density' near-Ear~ object would provide experience needed for similar activities on ~ complex' multiphase comet nucleus (or vice versa). Requirements for the development arid Ming of Earth-based' ~~-of-~-art ar~al~ica1 capabilities to study the returned samples. Instead of developing instruments for launch into space, extremely capable arid sophi~ic~d instrument must be developed for use in Earth-bamd laboratories for dam acquisition arid ~e extraction of science information from ~e returned samples. A review of the ar~al~ic~ capabilities in U.~. laboratories for sample analysis he identified the need for the development of new instrumentation arid for upgrading U.S. laboratories. In response, ~ start in this direction has been made by the new arid fully competitive Sample-lleturn L~or~ory Inshumen~tion md D~a Analysis Program. There is ~ need to improve md to develop, on ~ continuing basis' novel' sensitive instrumentation md to develop He mal~iea1 techniques applicable to specific samples md new science questions. The development of ~ specific instrument normally takes ~ to 7 years. Gaining experience md developing techniques for such ~ instrument require ~ additional ~ years. While some instruments may become commercially available, it is more likely ~~, with adequate support' key novel instrument will be developed Trough the close interaction between industry md researchers. Need for appropriate mal~iea1 facilities Song wig persormel who have the expertise to use them. Diverse instrumentation is necessary for sample Keynes. For major instruments' it is likely ~~ Me use will be shared by mmy investigators md ~~ such instrument may reside in regional Centers of Excellence md require ~ facility- type operation. It is anticipated Host of these regional facilities will be assoeia~d with edue~iona1 institutions md will help chin multidiseiplin~ researchers. It is recommended ~~ these mal~iea1 capabilities md experience working wig very small samples be developed well in advance of sample return. ~ Need for planetary protection md eur~oria1 facilities to contain samples md for procedures to handle diverse samples. Such facilities for lunar samples are greedy in place md in use. Facilities for Me Discovery missions Stardu~ md Genesis are under design. Appropriate facilities for diverse samples from environment with biological po~ntia1 as well as from environments whose in~grily must be mainlined le.g., temperature' pressure' composition) need to be implemented md sample-h~dling experience gained well in advance of sample return. As we enter the detailed exploration phase of planetary exploration, sample return of the basic `<ingredients,' that compose the solar system will become ~ in~gra1 element of fundamental science return' md wig it ~ host of new challenges need to be addressed. This will require support on ~ continuing basis for the preparation of md in conjunction with ~ exciting suite of sample-return missions. Such support em be provided Trough the identifi- eation of ~ new sample-return program comparable to Missions Operations md D~a Analysis. Samples from Stardu~' Genesis, md the ISAS mission MUSES-C will become available during the next 4 to ~ years. For Me next decade md beyond' with the expee~tion of additional samples returned from Me Moon' the surface of comet Mars, md possibly NEOs, ~ stable program will be required to ensure that the Ear~-based component is sufficiently strong to fulfill the science objectives. The SSE Survey recommend that NASA establish' well before samples are resumed from planetary missions' ~ s~nple-retum pogrom to address an~lytiml and facility issues and the training of researchers in an integrated manner. Such ~ program will allow few on the optimization of science and technology repours=.

779 HEW FR0~ IN =E 50~R HIM PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS+ OUTREACH AM EDI}CATION NASA has men engaged in education arid public outreach activities since its inception in 1958. During ~e mid-~9Os' ~e NASA Office of Space Science formalized ~ E/PO scraggy ~~ includes education communities' space scimlis~, arid relend NASA org~izations.33 The implementation of this strategy was formulated by art E/PO Task Group appointed by ~e Space Science Advisory Commits. A key element of ~e implementation is to ``leverage,' activities Trough collaborations with other orgar~iz~ions arid institutions, such as plar~aria. An in~gra1 pad of OSS,~ E/PO goal includes Gaining activities to help create ~ scientific workforce for the future. The program is well conceived to achieve Base goals md on its way to Wyoming ~ hallmark for other governmental agencies. The OSS ElPO is orgar~i~d into four forums, each of which corresponds to OSS themes including Solar System Exploration (S SE). The SSE ElPO forum, direc~d through the ~t Propulsion L~or~ory' provides sustained afford arid continuity of educations activities beyond Hose of short-~rm missions or wlivities under- taken by individual researchers. Part of the OSS EiPO Program is the concept of Brokers which are regional centers win ~e goal of interfacing between ~e needs of various ElPO ventures arid perry scimlis~. The OSS EiPO sponsors ~ wide variety of activities arid collaborations, implemented Trough missions' research activities' formal education projects' md informal projects. For example' in He year 2000, some 614 evens for educators were held across solar system exploration activities arid involved more ~m 42~000 attendees; in addition' more than 600 public events were held, reaching more than 662~000 participant. Concurrently, 85 permanent museum exhibits were supported' md ~ ~ traveling exhibits involving solar system exploration were developed. Plenary missions provide ~ unparalleled opportunity to capture student md public attention in science' engineering, md exploration. llecognizing this high potential' all NASA flight programs are required to Devon ~ to 2 percent of their total budget to ElPO. Typically' each flight project develops its own set of Utilities. The EiPO component developed Trough principal-investigator-led flight projects' such as Discovery missions' have been particularly effective. ~ these projects' ElPO is typically <<leveraged,' Trough other orisons (including non-NASA groups), identified md cultivated by the prineipal-investig~or ~am. All recent planets missions' including Galileo' Gemini, Deep Impaet' Messenger' Contour, S~rdust md various Mars missions, have extensive EiPO activities. Current NASA lleseareh A~ouneemen~ for OSS programs provide the opportunity for planetary scientist Steeped for funding to submit proposals for EiPO activities as supplement to their research projects. The selection of these supplements awards is based on the recommendations from reviews established separate from the science research review panels, but which include educators md scientists. The formal education aspect of the SSE EiPO includes Archer preparation' student support' md funding of He N~iona1 Education Standards. For teacher preparation' the SSE goal is to train 7~500 tewhers annually' win He potential to reach 225~000 student. Student support is provided Trough programs such as Radio JOVE' which teaches the scientific method to student in grades ~ Trough 14 using radio ash onomy to observe the Sun or Jupiter. National Education Standards have been derived for the Blind S~tes.34 To support the implementation of the standards, the SSE EiPO has developed ~ pilot program that demonstrates how results from solar system exploration em be used to meet specific curriculum requirements. There is widespread agreement ~~ ~ significant strength of the SSE ElPO program is the direct involvement of principal investigators win students' teachers' md He public. Particularly valuable are partnerships win org~iz~ions (em.' the Plmet~ Soviet) md industry during missions. The opportunity to interact win active seienti~s md to ask questions is "really appreciated by these audiences. Participation by students md Archers in projects, active missions, md scientific meetings is considered excellent first-h~d learning experience. Similarly' second~-sehool class participation in active research Trough the collection of dam md interaction win scientist has been highly successful. However' these activities typically involve smut numbers of people md subst~tia1 eommi~nent by planetary scientists. Consequently' activities with ~ multiplier effect are considered to be more eost-effeetive. For example' activities such ~ NASA,s Solar System Ambassadors program' in which individuals are identified within regions to serve as local Sonnets' have worked well. In addition, more of the results of solar

SOLAR ~~M E~LORANON TODAY 773 system exploration should ~ incorporated into undergraduate arid gradual curricula. This could be achieved by working closely with authors arid publishers of textbooks, including offering help ~ the review stages of publication. One significar~t issue ~socia~d with the various science principal investigator (PI)-led EiPO efforts is the general lack of recognition by institutions arid peers for EiPO activities. Considerations of promotion arid Inure place little weight on such wlivities' arid ElPO publications are seldom considered to be significant in ~e PINS publication record. Consequently, mod PIs conduct EiPO on the side' because Hey feel it is important, but underfed ~~ Heir efforts are unlikely to be recognized or rewarded. Most of ~e current SSE ElPO principal-investig~or-led activities appear to be focused on teachers arid studded' with relatively little attention given to the general public. Some perry scientists noted thy research- linked ElPO proposals for activities focusing on the adult population tend to ~ rejected within ~e current SSE EiPO framework. Although it is recognized ~~ ~e OSS ElPO sets ~ priority on educating leachers md students' it is also importmt to educate ~e general population about broad science topics md more specifically' solar system exploration goals arid results. Enabling inversions with active ply scientists could ~ very effective for this purpose. Nearly everyone agrees thy having art ElPO program within S SK' arid particularly the involvement of PIs is good. However, marry ply scientists view ~e SSE ElPO program as being excessively bureaucratic' especially when the broker-facili~tor system is Eked into account. Although marry PIs consider this system to have merit in principle' Hey see it as ineffective in practice. Moreover' it is nof clear how ~e lines of responsibility are drawn between NASA's Public Information md Education md Public Outreach offices or how He various activities are coordinated. The requirement of incorporating EiPO for specific projects, such as Discovery missions, is considered meritorious, md most plenary scientists agree that He current funding levels of ~ to ~ percent are about right within He SSE program. In most implementations' planets scientist md education specialists work h~d-in- h~d to derive irmov~ive md effective activities for communicating solar system exploration to students teachers' md the public. In mmy respects these programs mrve as models for SSE EiPO in general. ElPO Utilities proposed as part of the overall research program, however' have not worked very well' primarily because of He review process md the lack of sufficient funds. For example' mmy PIs put subs~tia1 effort into preparing <<add-on,, EiPO activities as pay of their research drams only to learn Lear Shivery few of He ElPO activities were funded. Moreover' in mmy eases they received little or no feedback on their EiPO proposals. In summary' the SSE EiPO program is considered to have ~ solid foundation md to be well organized md mmaged. An appreciable strength is He close linkage to chive planetary seienti~s md flight projects' md He partnering win over programs' both within NASA md outside the space mienee program. Areas for improve- ment include better eommunie~ion win the planetary science eommunily, strengthening the review process for various element of the ElPO program, md improving the linkages to nor~flight research projects. FIEF Elf EN C ES . L.W. Alvarez W. Alvarez F. Asaro~ Id H.~. h~ichel~ <<Exka~rre~ria1 Gaul for the Cretamous-Tertiary Extir~ior~e 208: 1095-~108) 1980. 2. R. Jedicke' A. hiorbi~lli, T. Spahr, J.-h5. Petit' Ad W. Bottke, <<Earth Ad Sp:~-~ed NEO Survey Simul~ior~: Prospects for Achieving the Spa~guard Goal>~> Gary ~ ~1 : 17-33> 2003. 3. Board ore Physics Ad Astronomy Ad Spay Studies Board' N~ior~1 Research Councils Astronomy a~Astroph~ t~ ~e New Mod N~iorlal Academy Press' W:~shirl~orl' Deem.> 2001' p. ~ 1. 4. Spam Audits Bo lard' N~iorla1 Research Courloil' U.~.-~uropea~ Col~borm~o~ ~~ Space ~~ N~iona1 Academy Press' Washirl~orl' D.~.) 1993. S. Spam Studies Board, N~ior~1 Research Cour~cil' U.S.-~uropea~apa~e Workshop on Space Cooper~`o~' N~ior~1 Academy Pre ~ s' W ashir~or~> ~ . ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . 6. Spam Stu dies ~ card' N~ior~1 Research Councils An ~~ra~:~r~ for ~e P~ry Scow. I995-2010' N~ior~1 Academy Pre ~ s' W ashir~or~' ~ . ~ . ~ ~ ~ At. 7. D.S. hickory> E.K. Gibson Jr.> K.L. Thomas-Keprta' H. Vali' C.S. Romarlek' S.J. Clemett' X.~.F Chillier' C.R. haling arld R.~. Zare' 1<Search for Pan Life on hears: Possible Relic Bio~r~ic A~ivity ire humid Meteoric ALH84OO1~>Sc~e ~3: 9~-930' 1996.

774 HEW FR0~ IN =E SOLAR IBM S. Spam Studies Board Id ~ card ore Life Skiers N~ior~:~1 Monarch Cour~cil' Life i~ ~e Berm An AN of Us a brows Program `~A~trob~olo~' N~ior~1 Academies Press' Washir~or~' D.~.' 2003. ?. H. Strughold' ~e Frees a~ Re1~t Ur~iversity of New Mexico Press' Albuquerque' 1953. 10. For :~ flour examir~ation of NASA>s A~robiolo~ programs see' for example' Spam Studies Boards N~ior~:~1 Research Cour~cil' Life Unnerve An AD of ~ s a~ I~r~ho ~l Programs ~~ A~trob~olo~' National Academies Press' Washir~or~' Date.' 2003. ~ ~ . ~ . J~kosky et al.' 1lThe Role of Askobiolo~ ire Solar System Explor~ior~: A Sport from the NASA A~robiolo~ Coitus to the N~ior~:~1 Monarch Council Solar System Explor~ior~ Dec:~da1 Straws Working Group>~' NASA A~robiolo~ Ir~itu~' Coffey Field' Califorr~ia; white paper available orally ~ ~h~p:~r~re.colorado.edullifelMAI-report-to-NRC.html>. ~ 2. Executive Office of the Pre micra o f the Ur~i~d Stand' Budget of ~e US Oover~t—F`~l Year 2003' U .S. Goverr~mert Prirt~g Offing Washin~or~> D.~.' 2002. Available online at ~h~p:ilwww.whitehou~.goviomb~ud~tify2003~ud~t.html>. ~ 3. Spam Studies ~ oard' N~ior~1 Research Councils An ~~r~r~y for ~e P~ry SO 1995-2010' N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~> D.~.> 1994. 14. See' for example, SEC Roadmap Team' Su~-~arth Coo Romp 2003-2020' NASA' Washir~or~' D.~.' 2002. ~ S. Spam Mu dies ~ oard' N~ior~1 Research Cour~cil' $~e Management ~~ ~e Hu~ Polo of Space' Natior~1 Academy Pre ss' Washir~or~> ~ .O .> ~ ?97' pp . ~ 3- ~ S. 16. Spam Studies Poard' N~ior~1 Research Council, ~e Hu~ Polo of spars' N~iona1 Academy Press' Washington' Deco.> 1997. 17. Aeror~autics md Spam Er~gir~er~g Board Ad Spam Studies Boards N~ior~1 Research Councils safe on Apart> N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' D.O .' 2002. 18. Spam Studies Board' N~ior~1 Research Councils $~c Prerequ~ for ~e ~~ Pork of space' N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~> D.~.> 1993. 19. See' for example' Spam Studies Board' Natior~1 Research Council, Supports Rehears a~ Da~ AS t~ NASAL Sconce Programs E~ of Jo ~ a~' Natior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' Deco.' 1993 . 20. Executive Office of the Pre micro of the Untied Stays> Budget of ~e Us Oover~t—F`~l Year 2003> U.S. Govemme~ Priming Offing Washin~or~> D.~.> 2002. Available online at ~h~p:ilwww.whitehou~.goviomb~ud~tAfy2003~ud~t.html>. 21. Spam Studies ~ card' Natior~1 Research Councils Supports Radars a~d BAJA A~ t~ BASALT Scte~e Program E~ of Proved on a~ ~~> N~ior~1 Academy Pre ss, Washir~on' D.C .' ~ ?~S . 22. Spam Studies ~ oard' Natior~1 Research Cour~cil' Supportive Ternary a~d Da~ A~ ~~ BASAL Sc~e Program E~ of Doodad on FEZ ~~' N~ior~1 Academy Pre ss' Washir~on' D.O .' ~ ?98 . 23. Spam Studies ~ card' Natior~1 Research Cour~cil' Supporting Regears a~d Da~ A~ ~~ BASALT She Program E~ of Proved on FEZ ~~> N~ior~1 Academy Pre ss' Washir~on' D.C .> ~ ?~> pp . 48-50 . At. Spam Studies ~ card' N~ior~1 Research Councils Am of ~e we~ a~ Aims of HASA ,~ Bard a~ Space Scow M`~o~ Da~ N~ior~:~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' D.~.' 2002> pp. 68-~. 25. Spam Studies Bo lard' N~ior~1 Research Councils Sc`~c Opportu~ ~~ ~e Huma~ Exploration of Space' N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' D.C .' ~ ?~' pp . ~ 2-13. 26. hive details Gout the N~ior~:~1 Virtual Observatory c~ be found online ~ ~http:~/www.us-vo.or~. hi. NASA MPG Report ~ 999> P~ryPro~`o~Prov~o~forTobodc~tr~erre~tr~lM=`o~> NASA MPG 3020.128> N~ior~1 Aeronautics Ad Spam Admir~i~r~ior~' Washir~or~' D.~.' 1999. 28. L. Oral, he. A>Hearr~' J. Bada' J. Baross' C. Chapman' ha. Drake' J. Kerrid~' ha. Race' ALL. Sogir~' md S. Squyres' resample Retum from Small Solar System ~ Odin A~ ~~ Space Ternary 25: 23 ?-2A3> ~ Add. 29. See' for example' Spam Studies Board' N~ior~1 Research Councils ~e Ire a~ Cert~to~ of Martyr Samples' N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' D.O .' 2002. 30. L. Oral' he. A>Hearr~> J. Bada' J. Baross' C. Chapman> h4. Drake' J. Kerrid~> h4. Race' ALL. Sogir~> md S. Squyres' resample Retum from Small Solar System ~ Odin t~ Space Rewarm 25: 23 ?-2A8' ~ Add. 3 ~ . Span Studies ~ o lard' N~iona1 ~ march Councils ~e Ire a~ CerEficaho~ of Martian Samples' Natior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~> D.~.> 2002. 32. Span Studies B oard' N~iona1 ~ march Councils ~e Ire a~ C:erkficaho~ of Martian Sample' Natior~1 Academy Press' Washir~or~' D.~.' 2002. 33. Office of Up: Science> N~iona1 Aeronautics Ad Span Admir~i~r~ion' Imp ~e Offer of I t05~ Who PabEc Outreach Strategy' Natior~1 Aeronautics Ad Span Admir~isk~ior~' Washir~gtor~' D.~.' 1996. 34. N~ior~:~1 Research Cour~cil' strop ~e Nat~o~l She Into SO N~ior~1 Academy Press' Washir~on' Dog.> 1997.

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Solar system exploration is that grand human endeavor which reaches out through interplanetary space to discover the nature and origins of the system of planets in which we live and to learn whether life exists beyond Earth. It is an international enterprise involving scientists, engineers, managers, politicians, and others, sometimes working together and sometimes in competition, to open new frontiers of knowledge. It has a proud past, a productive present, and an auspicious future. This survey was requested by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to determine the contemporary nature of solar system exploration and why it remains a compelling activity today. A broad survey of the state of knowledge was requested. In addition NASA asked for the identifcation of the top-level scientific questions to guide its ongoing program and a prioritized list of the most promising avenues for flight investigations and supporting ground-based activities.

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