NASA Announced Two Discovery Program Launching Before 2021 [VIDEO]

By Satish | Jan 06, 2017 | 00:36 AM EST

NASA is about to take a historic step towards its Discovery program. NASA has to select Two out of Five shortlisted space missions that will discover the earliest eras of the solar system.

The Discovery Space Exploration program started as much as an ambitious program in 1992 with a sole aim of launching -MESSENGER mission to Mercury, the Kepler Telescope to search for Alien Stars in the Solar system and other missions to the farthest regions of the unknown solar system.

As per Daily Galaxy, NASA has initially shortlisted 5 Discovery programs in 2015. Each one has a unique objective. It is very important to know each one of them.

The Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy mission (VERITAS)

VERITAS program is tasked with understanding the Venus global topography, imaging Venus and recording of deformation and surface composition. The project is monitored by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California.

Psyche

This project is basically exploring the origin of Planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid Psyche. The asteroid presumably underwent a brawl with another object some billion years ago when the object ruptured the asteroid's outer surface and rocky layers. NASA's JPL will manage this project if chosen.

Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam)

NEOCAM would be tasked to find 10 times more objects near to Earth than all NEO's discovered to date. Again, NASA's JPL will manage this project if chosen.

Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI)

DAVINCI mission is typically a 63-minute descent planned on the planet Venus by NASA. The central idea is to investigate whether there are still active volcanoes on Venus and how the surface of Venus react with the atmosphere above it. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre will monitor the project.

Lucy

The Discovery project would do reconnaissance to the Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids to study the objects that hold the key to the origin of the solar system.

However, after a year of deliberations, on January 4, 2017, NASA has selected Lucy and Psyche, as its planned Discovery mission, which has to launch no later than 2021. The cost of each mission is $3 million towards these "concept Design studies and analyses, reveals NASA website.

Related Stories

Latest News