NASA's New Frontiers program is a series of medium- class missions focused on exploring the solar system through robotic exploration. Each New Frontiers mission is chosen through a competitive selection process and must be able to address a specific set of scientific objectives. The program has already produced some of NASA's most successful missions, including the New Horizons mission to Pluto, the Juno mission to Jupiter, and the OSIRIS-REx mission to study the asteroid Bennu. New Frontiers Four, as yet unlaunched, will send a large 'drone' called Dragonfly to Titan.
New Frontiers Five will be selected to focus on one of six mission themes which have already been determined by NASA. These themes are:
Comet Surface Sample Return
Io Observer
Lunar Geophysical Network
Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return
Enceladus Exploration
Saturn Atmospheric Probe
Proposals will be submitted in 2024, and a shortlist will be selected for further study. The final approval should come in 2026. It should be noted that all timelines here are vulnerable to change. I'll set the market to close at the currently advertised time since it is multiple choice.
The current most up-to-date is the Draft Advertisement of Opportunity, available here:
New Frontiers Six question here:
https://manifold.markets/JoshuaWilkes/which-mission-theme-will-nasas-new
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