Ramona Adams
NASA has received and begun to review 12 proposals for a future unmanned solar system mission that could be launched in the mid-2020s.
The space agency said Friday the proposals submitted under the New Frontiers program will undergo scientific and technical review in the next seven months.
NASA plans to choose one or more concepts for Phase A study then select a mission for flight in approximately two years.
The selected proposal would be the fourth mission in the New Frontiers portfolio and will follow New Horizons mission to Pluto, the Juno exploration to Jupiter, and the OSIRIS-REX asteroid rendezvous and sample return mission.
The New Frontiers Program runs principal investigator-led space science investigations under a development cost limit of about $1 billion.
New Frontiers missions must address NASA’s planetary science objectives outlined in the 2014 NASA Strategic Plan and the 2014 NASA Science Plan.
