Discovery Program

NASA / Planetary Missions Program Office

NASA's Discovery Program was initiated in 1990 and develops planetary missions lower in cost than its New Frontiers and Flagship programs, through the Planetary Missions Program Office.

The first mission launched within the program was NEAR Shoemaker in 1996. Notable missions are Mars Pathfinder with Sojourner rover, Deep Impact, Dawn, InSight and Lucy. Currently in development are Psyche, VERITAS and DAVINCI.

Sojourner
Conceived as the first mission in the Mars Environmental SURvey (MESUR) program but developed as the second Discovery mission, the Sojourner rover was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Discovery Program Missions
  1. NEAR Shoemaker, 433 Eros (landing) & 253 Mathilde (1996)
  2. Mars Pathfinder, Sojourner (rover), Mars (1996)
  3. Lunar Prospector, Moon (1998)
  4. Stardust, 81P/Wild (sample), 5535 Annefrank & Tempel 1 (1999)
  5. Genesis, solar wind at Sun–Earth L1 (2001)
  6. CONTOUR, Encke, Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 (2002, failed)
  7. MESSENGER, Mercury & Venus (2004)
  8. Deep Impact, Tempel 1 (impactor) & 103P/Hartley (2005)
  9. Dawn, 4 Vesta & Ceres (2007)
  10. Kepler, exoplanet survey (2009)
  11. GRAIL, Moon (2011)
  12. InSight, Mars (lander) (2018)
  13. Lucy, Jupiter Trojans (2021)
  14. Psyche, 16 Psyche (2023)
  15. VERITAS, Venus (2028)
  16. DAVINCI, Venus (2029)
Wikipedia (en)
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