The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a serial publication of the United States National Research Council produced for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and other United States Government Agencies such as the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

.National Academy of Sciences, National Academies Press, http://www.nap.edu/download.php?record_id=13117 , ''Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013–2022'', 2011; . Retrieved February 23, 2015 The documents identify key questions facing planetary science and outlines recommendations for space and ground-based exploration ten years into the future. Missions to gather data to answer these big questions are described and prioritized, where appropriate. Similar decadal surveys cover astronomy and astrophysics, earth science, and

heliophysics Heliophysics (from the prefix "wikt:helio-, helio", from Attic Greek ''hḗlios'', meaning Sun, and the noun "physics": the science of matter and energy and their interactions) is the physics of the Sun and its connection with the Solar System. ...

. As of 2022 there have been three "Decadals", one published in April 2002 for the decade from 2003 to 2013, one published on March 7, 2011 for the decade from 2013 to 2022, and one published on April 19, 2022 for the decade from 2023 to 2032.

Before the decadal surveys

* ''Planetary Exploration, 1968-1975'', published in 1968, recommended missions to Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in that order of priority. * ''Report of Space Science, 1975'' recommended exploration of the outer planets. * ''Strategy for Exploration of the Inner Planets, 1977–1987'' was published in 1977. * ''Strategy for the Exploration of Primitive Solar-System Bodies--Asteroids, Comets, and Meteoroids, 1980–1990'' was published in 1980. * ''A Strategy for Exploration of the Outer Planets, 1986-1996'' was published in 1986. * ''Space Science in the Twenty-First Century – Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015'', published in 1988, recommended a focus on "

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

-like missions to study Saturn, Uranus and Neptune" including a mission to rendezvous with Saturn's rings and study Titan. It also recommended study of the moon with a "Lunar Geoscience Orbiter", a network of lunar rovers and sample return from the lunar surface. The report recommended a Mercury Orbiter to study not only that planet but provide some solar study as well. A "Program of Extensive Study of Mars" beginning with the

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...

mission was planned for 1995 to be followed up by one in 1998 to return samples to Earth for study. Study of primitive bodies such as a comet or asteroid was recommended as a flyby mission of the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and Amor asteroids.

2003–2013, ''New Frontiers in the Solar System''

''New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy'', published in 2003, mapped out a plan for the decade from 2003 to 2013. The committee producing the survey was led by Michael J. Belton. Five panels focused on the inner planets,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, the giant planets, large satellites and

astrobiology Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...

. The survey placed heavy emphasis on Mars exploration including the

Mars Exploration Rover NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rove ...

s, established the New Frontiers program including

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

mission to study Pluto and established programs in power and propulsion to lay a technological basis for programs in later decades including crewed missions beyond Earth orbit. The paper suggested that NASA should prioritize the following missions:

Medium-class missions

Primitive bodies: * Kuiper Belt-Pluto Explorer * Comet Surface Sample Return * Trojan Asteroid/

Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

Reconnaissance * Asteroid Lander/Rover/Sample Return * Triton/

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

Flyby Inner planets: * Venus In-Situ Explorer (VISE) * South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Mars: * Mars Long-Lived Lander Network * Mars Upper Atmosphere Orbiter * Mars Science Laboratory Giant planets: * Jupiter Polar Orbiter with Probes (JPOP) Large satellites: * Io Observer * Ganymede Orbiter * Neptune flyby

Large-class missions

Primitive bodies: * Comet Cryogenic Sample Return Mars: * Mars Sample Return Outer planets: * Neptune Orbiter with Probes Large satellites: * Europa Geophysical Explorer * Europa Pathfinder Lander * Europa Astrobiological Lander * Titan Explorer * Uranus Orbiter * Neptune Orbiter

2013–2022, ''Visions and Voyages for Planetary Science''

''Visions and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013 – 2022 (2011)'' was published in prepublication form on March 7, 2011, and in final form later that year. Draft versions of the document were presented at town hall meetings around the country, at lunar and planetary conferences, and made available publicly on the NASA website and via the

National Academies Press The US National Academies Press (NAP) was created to publish the reports issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly known as the National Research Council (United States), National Research Council), the Na ...

. The report differed from previous reports in that it included a "brutally honest" budgetary review from a 3rd party contractor.

Flagship missions

The report highlighted a new Mars rover, a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, and a mission to

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

and its moons as proposed Flagship Missions. The Mars mission was given highest priority, followed by the Europa mission. The Mars rover proposal was called MAX-C and it would store samples for eventual return to Earth, but the method of return was left open. It only recommended the rover mission if it could be done cheaply enough (US$2.5 billion).

Studies

The committee producing the survey was led by Steve Squyres of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and included 5 panels focusing on the inner planets ( Mercury,

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, and the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

(not including Phobos and Deimos), the

gas giant A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" was originally synonymous with "giant planet". However, in the 1990s, it became known that Uranu ...

planets, satellites ( Galilean satellites, Titan, and other satellites of the giant planets) and primitive bodies (asteroids, comets, Phobos, Deimos,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

/ Charon and other Kuiper belt objects,

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

s, and interplanetary dust). Repeated Flybys Yield a Pole-to-Pole View of Europa

Mission & Technology Studies: *Mercury Lander Mission Concept Study *Venus Mobile Explorer Mission Concept Study *Venus Intrepid Tessera Lander Concept Study *Venus Climate Mission Concept Study *Lunar Geophysical Network Concept Study *Lunar Polar Volatiles Explorer Mission Concept Study *Near Earth Asteroid Trajectory Opportunities in 2020–2024 * Mars 2018 MAX-C Caching Rover Concept Study *Mars Sample Return Orbiter Mission Concept Study *Mars Sample Return Lander Mission Concept Study *Mars 2018 Sky Crane Capability Study *Mars Geophysical Network Options *Mars Geophysical Network Concept Study *Mars Polar Climate Concepts * Jupiter Europa Orbiter (component of EJSM) Concept Study * Io Observer Concept Study * Ganymede Orbiter Concept Study *Trojan Tour Concept Study * Titan Saturn System Mission * Saturn Atmospheric Entry Probe Trade Study *Saturn Atmospheric Entry Probe Mission Concept Study *Saturn Ring Observer Concept Study * Enceladus Flyby & Sample Return Concept Studies *Enceladus Orbiter Concept Study * Titan Lake Probe Concept Study *Chiron Orbiter Mission Concept Study *Uranus and Neptune Orbiter and Probe Concept Studies *Neptune-Triton-Kuiper Belt Objects Mission Concept Study *Comet Surface Sample Return Mission Concept Study *Cryogenic Comet Nucleus Sample Return Mission Technology Study *Small Fission Power System Feasibility Study The recommendation for the New Frontiers program was a selection from one of Comet Surface Sample Return, Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return, Saturn Probe, Trojan Tour and Rendezvous, and Venus In Situ Explorer. Then another selection adding Io Observer, Lunar Geophysical Network (for NF 4 and 5). In the 2011 response from NASA to the review, NASA supported the New Frontiers recommendations. The first three New Frontiers missions include

to Pluto flyby, the Juno Jupiter orbiter, and the OSIRIS-REx near-Earth orbit sample return mission.

2023–2032, ''Origins, Worlds, and Life''

''Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 (2022)'' was published on April 19, 2022.

Flagship Missions

The report recommended the Uranus Orbiter and Probe as the highest priority new Flagship Mission, and the Enceladus Orbilander as the second-highest. It recommended continuing the ongoing Mars Sample Return program as the highest priority overall, subject to cost restraints.

New Frontiers Program

The report recommended several different possible mission concepts for the sixth New Frontiers mission: * Centaur orbiter and lander * Ceres sample return * Comet surface sample return * Enceladus multiple flyby * Lunar Geophysical Network * Saturn probe * Titan orbiter * Venus In Situ Explorer

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

Previous Space Studies Board reports
Planetary science Decadal science surveys