National Academies Press: OpenBook

New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration (2003)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10898.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10898.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10898.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10898.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2003. New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10898.
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New Frontiers in Solar System Exploration THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, D.C. www.nap.edu

This booklet is based on the Space Studies Board report New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy (available online at <http://books.nap.edu/html/newfrontiers /0309084954.pdf>). Details about obtaining copies of the full report, together with more information about the Space Studies Board and its activities, can be found at <http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ssb/>. New Frontiers in the Solar System was authored by the Solar System Exploration Survey. SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION SURVEY MICHAEL J.S. BELTON, Belton Space Exploration Initiatives, Chair CAROLYN PORCO, Space Science Institute, Vice Chair MICHAEL A’HEARN, University of Maryland JOSEPH A. BURNS, Cornell University RONALD GREELEY, Arizona State University JAMES W. HEAD III, Brown University WESLEY T. HUNTRESS, JR., Carnegie Institution of Washington ANDREW INGERSOLL, California Institute of Technology DAVID JEWITT, University of Hawaii JOHN F. MUSTARD, Brown University ANDREW NAGY, University of Michigan DIMITRI A. PAPANASTASSIOU, Jet Propulsion Laboratory ROBERT T. PAPPALARDO, University of Colorado MITCHELL SOGIN, Marine Biological Laboratory THOMAS YOUNG, Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired) The Space Studies Board is a unit of the National Research Council of the National Academies, which serve as independent advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. Support for this publication was provided by the The Presidents’ Circle Communication Initiative of the National Academies. The Space Studies Board acknowledges Brian Dewhurst, Bethany Ehlmann, and David H. Smith for drafting the text of this booklet. Cover design by Penny Margolskee; booklet design by Anne Rogers. Copyright 2003 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Solar System Exploration Today 1 Europa and Large Satellites 6 Europa Geophysical Explorer Mars 8 Mars Sample Return and Precursor Missions Kuiper Belt Objects 12 Kuiper Belt-Pluto Explorer Cratering and Planetary Evolution 14 South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Formation of the Giant Planets 16 Jupiter Polar Orbiter with Probes Comparative Planetology and Climate Change 18 Venus In Situ Explorer Primitive Bodies and the Origin of Life 20 Comet Surface Sample Return Near-Earth Objects 22 Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Technology Development 25 Conclusion 26 Missions Recommended by the SSE Survey Other Mission Concepts with Future Potential Future Mars Missions Final Thoughts iii

A montage of some of the diverse planetary bodies explored by spacecraft in the last 40 years.

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Over the last four decades, robotic spacecraft have visited nearly every planet, from torrid Mercury to frigid Neptune. The data returned by these Pioneers, Mariners, Vikings, and Voyagers have revolutionized our understanding of the solar system. These achievements rank among the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century. Now, at the opening of the 21st, it is appropriate to ask, where do we go from here?

In 2001, NASA asked the National Academies to study the current state of solar system exploration in the United States and devise a set of scientific priorities for missions in the upcoming decade (2003-2013). After soliciting input from hundreds of scientists around the nation and abroad, the Solar System Exploration Survey produced the discipline's first long-range, community-generated strategy and set of mission priorities: New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. The key mission recommendations made in the report, and the scientific goals from which the recommendations flow, are summarized in this booklet.

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