Posted: Fri, Jul 12, 2002, 8:21 PM ET (0021 GMT)
A National Research Council review panel has concluded that spacecraft missions to Pluto and Europa are the highest priority scientific missions NASA can undertake in the next decade. The NRC report, the result of a year-long study, said that the New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission is the highest-priority mission among candidate missions with a total cost less than $650 million. The report also endorsed a revised Europa orbiter mission called Europa Geophysical Explorer, with an estimated $1-billion price tag, but the panel ranked the Pluto mission higher based on cost. Ironically, NASA has attempted to cancel both missions: Congress added $30 million for New Horizons in NASA's 2002 budget, but NASA included no funding for the mission in the proposed 2003 budget. The NRC's recommendation may make it easier to include funding for New Horizons as part of "New Frontiers", NASA's new program for medium-class missions. Funding for a Europa orbiter, at least in the near term. Other mission concepts endorsed by the board, at a lower priority than Pluto and Europa, include a sample return mission to the Moon's South Pole-Aitken Basin, a Jupiter polar orbiter, a comet sample return mission, and a Venus mission.

Related Links:

•  Sky and Telescope article
•  Reuters article
•  SPACE.com article
•  New Scientist article