NASA Exploring 8 New Space Expeditions

coondoggie writes "NASA is trying to decide among eight space exploration missions that include further exploring Venus and comet composition as well landing on an asteroid or examining the space around Jupiter. The space agency today began accepting solicitations for these space exploration opportunities and will ultimately pick one of them to begin perusing in 2009 with a launch date targeted at 2018. The solicitations and ultimate expedition are part of NASA's New Frontiers program, which has as its main objective to explore the solar system with medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations, NASA said. The first New Frontiers mission was selected in 2003 and will result in the launch of Juno, a Jupiter polar orbiter mission set to blast off in 2011."

Comments

Re:Protect our ass

[servognome]

If we discover a large meteor heading straight towards Earth, we might only have a few months to get a rocket up and detonate the target off its course. All other missions pale in comparison to one that could save humanity. I don't think we should focus on particular missions within our solar system, so much as the ability to launch a successful ground-to-asteroid mission within weeks, if need be...

This kind of fear mongering sounds like George W. Bush... in Spaaaace. Spend billions and billions of dollars on an unlikely threat, and even if the demonstration is successful, it will have a marginal chance of success in a real situation.