The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science MissionDirectorate (SMD) is releasing a NASA Announcement of Opportunity (NNH10ZDA007O),Discovery 2010. NASA expects to select up to three Discovery mission proposals for a 9month Phase A study. Following evaluation of Phase A reports, NASA expects to approveone Discovery mission to proceed into Phase B and subsequent mission phases. LaunchReadiness Date (LRD) is to occur no later than December 31, 2017. The proposed missionsmay target any body in the Solar System, including Mars and Earths Moon, but excludingthe Earth and Sun.Participation is open to all categories of organizations (U.S. and non-U.S), includingeducational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally FundedResearch and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL), and other Government agencies. This solicitation will be open from June 7, 2010,through September 3, 2010. Upon the release date, the full text of the AO and allappendices will be available electronically at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ . A preproposal conference will be held in late June or early July, in the Washington, DC,area; see http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/ for details.Proposers should be aware of the following major changes in this AO from the DraftDiscovery Program AO (NNH10ZDA003J) released in December 2009: Launch vehicles in the medium and high performance classes with 4m fairingswill be added as options. Costs to proposers for these options are currently beingassessed. Proposed missions will be required to be compatible through PDR with threefamilies of launch vehicles: Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9. The minimum requirements for taking advantage of technology-infusion cost capincentives will be detailed in a new document in the Program Library entitled In-SpacePropulsion Technologies Minimum Demonstration Requirements. The costs associated with NEPA, NLSA, and nuclear launch services for missionsproposing to use ASRGs will be reduced to a firm, fixed cost of $20M (FY10). The justification for the use of X-band telecommunications for science datadownlink will be clarified to explicitly follow Recommendation 23-1 of the SpaceFrequency Coordination Group: in deep-space X-band users will be limited to 12 MHz ofbandwidth while at Mars X-band users will be limited to 8 MHz of bandwidth. Beyond theselimits, missions will be required to use Ka-band. Aperture fees based on the standardformula will remain. Missions to the Martian surface will no longer be required to carry theElectra-lite UHF radio package. However, any UHF package used will be required to beinteroperable with the current Mars UHF relay network. The latest allowable Launch Readiness Date (LRD) will be extended to December 31,2017.In addition to the listed major changes, this AO incorporates a large number ofadditional changes relative to the previous Discovery Program AO and the Draft DiscoveryProgram AO, including both policy changes and changes to proposal submissionrequirements. All proposers must read this AO carefully, and all proposals must complywith the requirements, constraints, and guidelines contained within this AO.Direct questions specifically regarding this solicitation to: Dr. Michael H. New,Discovery Program Scientist, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate,NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-1766; E-mail:
[email protected] (subject line to read "DISCOVERY AO").This notice constitutes a NASA Research Announcement as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2).