This area will cover relevant news of the threat to the planet from Near Earth Objects (NEOs) including concepts and designs for mitigation. All opinions are those of the author.

14 December 2007

NASA does not select OSIRIS asteroid sample return mission for selection as Discovery Mission

From the article:

The University of Arizona has lost out on $425 million in NASA funding after the space agency selected a competing proposal for its next Discovery Class mission.
The UA's OSIRIS mission, which would have launched a spacecraft to collect and return material from a near-Earth asteroid, was one of three finalists competing for the NASA funding. NASA officials announced this week that another finalist, a moon mission known as GRAIL, will move forward.

"It was a bit of a shock, frankly," said Michael Drake, director of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and principal investigator for OSIRIS.

The lab will continue to seek funding for the asteroid-sample-return mission, modifying the proposal based on feedback from NASA officials. The ongoing Discovery program aims to launch a mission every 12 to 24 months.

Link: Article
"NASA turns down UA asteroid plan Proposal to collect, return material was one of three project finalists
Eric Swedlund
Arizona Daily Star
14 December 2007

Link: NASA Discovery Program announcement about the lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission

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