Discovery Mission Selection
Late in the spring, NASA is expected to make an announcement on future planetary exploration missions for its Discovery class program. These relatively small and low-budget missions have often yielded great scientific insights. Currently, the competition is down to three proposed missions, one of which will be chosen for a potential 2016 launch date.
The Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS) would drop a seismometer on the Martian surface to study the structure and composition of the planet’s interior. Alternatively, the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) would land a small boat on a lake of Saturn’s moon Titan in order to explore the strange processes of an alien sea. Finally, the Comet Hopper would do exactly that: send a satellite to hop on a comet multiple times and study how its surface changes as it approaches the sun.