Feb. 14, 2008 -- NASA is planning a probe to explore the unknown force driving the expansion of the universe and has rekindled its interest in monitoring Earth's changing environment.
The initiatives are among seven new science missions NASA plans to begin later this year.
"That's more than the last three years combined," NASA's associate administrator for science Alan Stern said in a conference call with reporters to discuss the agency's $4.4 billion budget plan for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Overall, the space agency is seeking $17.6 billion, about 3 percent more than the previous year.
The Joint Dark Energy Mission, a partnership with the Department of Energy, seeks to determine if the universe's rate of expansion varies over time. A decade ago, researchers discovered that the universe is growing faster now than it did earlier in its history. NASA wants to begin a competitive process to consider proposals to study the phenomena.
Closer to home, NASA plans to begin work on two new spacecraft to measure Earth's soil and ice, information that will be crucial in understanding climate change.
"This will dramatically accelerate what we are able to do," Stern said. "Picture the NASA logo, which is today not just blue, but turning green."
NASA wants to spend nearly $1 billion over the next five years for five new Earth science missions.
First in orbit would be the Soil Moisture Active-Passive mission, slated for liftoff by about 2012. The probe is designed to measure moisture levels in the soil in an attempt to understand Earth's water cycles.
ICESat 2 would follow three years later, as a follow-on to the current ICESat mission that is measuring how much ice the planet is losing at the polar regions.
"NASA's investments in measuring the forces and effects of climate change are allowing the policymakers and the public to better understand its implications to our home planet," said NASA's deputy administrator Shana Dale.
With the shuttle program winding down and NASA shifting its human space flight program beyond low-Earth orbit, the agency's science projects are following suit with renewed interest in the moon. A small orbiter to study the lunar atmosphere and dust is scheduled for launch in 2011, with a pair of landers to follow in 2013 or 2014.
The robots will be launched on the same rocket but land on opposite sides of the moon's poles, forming what Stern describes as "the anchor legs of a geophysical network." Ideally, other countries planning lunar studies would join the network, he added.
Beyond Earth, NASA wants to begin studies for a mission to return soil and rock samples from Mars as early as 2020, but its primary focus over the next five years will be to begin work on an outer-planet probe to follow up studies by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft and the 1995-2003 Galileo mission at Jupiter.
Three proposals are under consideration: a spacecraft to orbit Jupiter's moon Europa, which is believed to harbor an underground liquid ocean; a combination orbiter and lander mission to Saturn's moon Titan, which with its thick carbon-rich atmosphere and dynamic weather, is believed to resemble primordial Earth; and a Jupiter moon explorer that would visit several of the giant planet's satellites before settling into orbit around the largest moon, Ganymede.
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Irene Klotz's blog: Space Diary
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