NASA has invited proposals for a fifth mission in the Discovery programme aimed at producing "smaller, faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft. The mission will be launched in September 2002 and must cost less than $226 million to build and fly.
The planetary-class mission will follow the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Mars Pathfinder, Lunar Prospector and Stardust craft (Flight International, 17-23 January). The NEAR, launched in February, is on its way to the asteroid Eros.
The Mars Pathfinder lander takes off on 2 December, carrying the first rover to be used to explore the surface of the Red Planet. The Lunar Prospector orbiter will be launched in October 1997. The Stardust, to fly in February 1999, will be used to return to Earth interstellar dust and material emmitted by a comet.
Source: Flight International
