Mission and Technology Study Reports
As requested by the Committee on the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, 27 mission studies were initiated by NASA and carried out by leading design centers (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Marshall Space Flight Center) in support of this decadal survey. Two of these, the studies on the Asteroid Interior Composition Mission and the Neptune System Mission, were not completed. The full text of each of the 25 completed studies is provided on the CD included with this report and available at https://www.nap.edu/download/13117. The 25 studies are as follows:
• Mercury Lander
• Venus Mobile Explorer
• Venus Intrepid Tessera Lander
• Venus Climate Mission
• Lunar Geophysical Network
• Lunar Polar Volatiles Explorer
• Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher
• Mars Sample Return Orbiter
• Mars Sample Return Lander
• Mars Sky Crane Capabilities
• Mars Geophysical Network
• Mars Polar Climate Mission
• Io Observer
• Jupiter Europa Orbiter
• Ganymede Orbiter
• Saturn Probe
• Trojan Tour and Rendezvous
• Titan Saturn System Mission
• Enceladus Rapid Mission Architecture
• Enceladus Orbiter
• Titan Lake Probe
• Chiron Orbiter
• Uranus Orbiter and Probe
• Neptune-Triton-KBO Mission
• Comet Surface Sample Return.
In addition, four technology studies were performed at the committee’s request. The full text of these four study reports is also available on the attached CD and at https://www.nap.edu/download/13117.
• Near-Earth Asteroid Trajectory Opportunities in 2020-2024
• Small Fission Power System
• Saturn Ring Observer
• Comet Cryogenic Sample Return.