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Nature: Founded in 1992, NASA’s Discovery Program funds a series of lower-cost missions to explore the solar system. The most recent call for proposals yielded 27, which as of yesterday got shortened to 5. Those selected will each receive $3 million to further develop their proposals over the next year before the final decision is made in 2016. Two of the missions would target Venus: one involves a radar orbiter to map the planet’s surface, and the other, an atmospheric probe. The other three proposals are for a telescope to hunt for dangerous near-Earth objects, a probe to study the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, and a spacecraft to tour four Trojan asteroids that orbit near Jupiter. Because the proposals were so good, NASA says it may decide to fund two missions.
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NASA narrows search for next Discovery-class mission Free
1 October 2015