Next Discovery Mission Draft AO Released

NASA has released a draft of its Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the next Discovery mission.  Release of the final AO typically follows in a few weeks to a handful of months based on comments from the proposer community on the draft.

This promises to be a rich set of proposed missions.  Possible missions that have been discussed publicly and described in this blog include:

Venus Radar Mission
Comet Coma Rendezvous Sample Return
Trojan Asteroid Rendezvous
Titan Mare Explorer

CHopper
Venus Balloon
Io Volcano Explorer

There are likely to be dozens of other ideas proposed, especially since the cost cap has been raised by not including the launch vehicle in the Principle Investigator's (PI) budget and by the possibility of using a plutonium power source (the ASRG) at no cost to the PI.

Personally, I can't find a favorite among the concepts that have been discussed publicly.  All are excellent, and I expect that many that haven't been discussed would be equally good.

What follows are selected quotes from the 133 page draft AO to give a flavor of what NASA is looking for the proposers to do.  You can read the entire draft AO at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=214565/Discovery%2010%20DRAFT%20RELEASE.pdf

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing this Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to solicit Principal Investigator (PI) led planetary science investigations for the Discovery Program.

NASA expects to select one Discovery mission to proceed into Phase B (or an extended Phase A) and subsequent mission phases. The selected mission’s primary launch date shall be no later than the end of calendar year 2016.

One of NASA’s strategic goals is to “Advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system, the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space...” The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is addressing this strategic goal by conducting a program of planetary science designed to answer the following science questions:

• How did the Sun’s family of planets and minor bodies originate?
• How did the Solar System evolve to its current diverse state?
• What are the characteristics of the solar system that lead to the origin of life?
• How did life begin and evolve on Earth and has it evolved elsewhere in the solar system?
• What are the hazards and resources in the solar system environment that will affect the extension of human presence in space?
  

Investigations may target any body in the Solar System, including Mars and Earth’s Moon, but excluding the Earth and Sun, in order to advance the objectives outlined [above]... Investigations focused on Mars are allowed (Section 2.2)... Investigations of extra-solar planets are not solicited in this AO.

The cap on the PI-Managed Mission Cost for a Discovery mission is $425M in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 dollars, not including the cost of the standard launch vehicle (LV) or any contributions (Section 4.3.1 and Section 5.6.1). The cap may be increased through the optional use of specific NASA-developed technologies.

• The cost of standard launch services is not included within the cap on the PI-Managed Mission Cost, but mission-unique launch services and the differential cost of more capable LVs than the standard LV will be included in the PI-Managed Cost.
• The minimum reserve level of 25% is now assessed against the Phase A-E cost rather than the Phase A-D cost.
• Proposal of investigations enabled by the use of Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs) is allowed (Section 5.9.3). ASRGs are provided as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE).
• New propulsion technology has been developed by NASA and is available for infusion into Discovery missions [an advanced ion propulsion engine (NEXT), Advanced Material Bi-propellant Rocket (AMBR) and aerocapture].

This AO solicits flight missions, not technology development projects. Proposed investigations are generally expected to have mature technologies, specifically all technologies at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 or higher ... Proposals with a limited number of less mature technologies are permitted, as long as they contain a plan for maturing all technologies to TRL 6.

Proposed investigations will be evaluated and selected through a two-step competitive process. Step 1 is the solicitation, submission, evaluation, and selection of proposals prepared in response to this AO. As the outcome of Step 1, NASA intends to select approximately three Step 1 proposals and issue awards (provide funding to NASA Centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), award contracts to non-NASA institutions, or utilize other funding vehicles, as applicable) to the selected proposers to conduct Phase A concept studies and submit Concept Study Reports to NASA. Step 2 is the preparation, submission, evaluation, and continuation decision (downselection) of the Concept Study Reports. As the outcome of Step 2, NASA intends to continue a single investigation into the subsequent phases of mission development for flight and operations.

The following schedule describes the major milestones for this AO:
AO Release Date (target) ....................................................NLT Early 2010
Preproposal Conference ......................................................2-4 weeks after AO release
Notice of Intent to Propose Deadline ..................................4 weeks after AO release
Proposal Submittal Deadline at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time ....3 months after AO release
Letters of Commitment due (with proposal) .......................3 months after AO release
Step 1 Selections announced (target) ..................................9 months after AO release
Initiate Phase A Concept Studies (target) ...........................1 month after selection
Phase A Concept Study Reports due (target) ......................10 months after selection
Downselection of investigation(s) for flight (target) ..........16 months after selection
Launch Deadline .................................................................NLT December 31, 2016