These 7 Wild Concepts Are in the Running For NASA’s Next Big Mission

What should NASA explore next? The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine just published its proposed science themes for NASA’s fifth New Frontiers mission, outlining key priorities and offering a glimpse into the future of space exploration. The report outlines a handful of mission concepts which the National Academies concluded will help meet key needs of scientists, while maintaining a balanced portfolio of missions. One of the lucky missions will likely be NASA’s fifth New Frontiers mission, with a likely launch sometime in the 2030s. Some of the promising candidates under consideration are a probe to Saturn, a network of sensors spread across the Moon, and a daring attempt to take material from a dwarf planet and bring it to Earth—reminiscent of the OSIRIS-REx mission, a previous New Frontiers selection. The report can be downloaded from the National Academies website. Previous decadal surveys from the academies tackled the need to find habitable worlds, probi ... Read full article.