Douglas Isbell

Headquarters, Washington, DC September 20, 1996

(Phone: 202/358-1753)

RELEASE: 96-191

NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR FIFTH DISCOVERY MISSION

The process of selecting the fifth flight in NASA's

Discovery Program series of small, low-cost, highly focused
planetary exploration missions has begun with the issuance of
the formal Announcement of Opportunity by NASA's Office of
Space Science, Washington, DC.

Due for launch before the end of September 2002, the fifth
Discovery mission must be developed and prepared for launch for
less than $183 million (FY97 dollars), with mission operations
and data analysis costs less than an additional $43 million.

"We're open to proposals that address any aspect of planetary

science," said Dr. Wesley Huntress, Associate Administrator for Space
Science at NASA Headquarters. "We look forward to receiving a diverse
group of mission concepts, in both cost and complexity."

Based on past history, more than a dozen proposals from

both domestic and international teams with members from
industry, educational institutions, non-profit institutions,
NASA centers and other government institutions can be expected,
according to Ken Ledbetter, director of the Mission and Payload
Development Division in the Office of Space Science. If more
than one mission can be accommodated within the stated budget,
NASA will consider selecting more than one, he added.

Feedback from the previous round of Discovery selections

has led to a more streamlined process for picking this fifth
mission. First-round proposals are due by December 11. A
subset of these proposals will be selected for detailed
feasibility studies to run from April through August 1997, with
final selection of the winning proposal tentatively scheduled
for late September 1997.

One NASA Discovery mission, the Near Earth Asteroid

Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft, was launched in February toward
its planned orbital survey of the large asteroid Eros,
beginning in January 1999. The next Discovery mission, the
Mars Pathfinder, is due for launch on December 2 toward a July
1997 landing on the red planet, where it will photograph the
surface, monitor the Martian climate and deploy a small surface rover.

The third Discovery mission, Lunar Prospector, was selected in

February 1995. Due for launch in October 1997, this small
orbiter spacecraft is designed to map the chemical composition
of the lunar surface and survey the Moon's global magnetic and
gravity fields at a level of detail greater than that achieved
by any previous mission. The fourth Discovery mission,
Stardust, originated from the same group of proposals and was
formally selected in November 1995. Following a February 1999
launch, Stardust is designed to gather first-time samples of
interstellar dust and dust spewed from the comet Wild-2 and
return them to Earth in 2006 for detailed analysis.

The complete text of the latest Discovery Announcement of

Opportunity is available on the Internet at the following URL:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/research.htm

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