OCTOBER Jet Propulsion 2015 Laboratory VOLUME 45 NUMBER 10 Three JPL concepts picked in Discovery’s first round By Franklin O’Donnell JPL’s Discovery Program proposals are (from left) NEOCam, Psyche and VERITAS. Significant good news for JPL ar- would map the planet with a radar “As more and more exoplanets are rived at the end of September when vastly more capable than that on discovered, this information is essen- NASA announced the selection of JPL’s Magellan mission of the ear- tial to predicting whether Earth-sized three mission concepts managed by ly 1990s. The mission would obtain planets are more likely to resemble the Lab for possible development un- global maps of high-resolution radar Earth or Venus.” der the agency’s Discovery Program. imaging and altimetry, and make other Tony Freeman was the VERITAS The three proposals – a Venus or- measurements designed to penetrate capture lead for Step 1. Dave Leh- biter, a mission to a metal asteroid Venus’ thick carbon dioxide atmo- man of JPL is project manager, Scott and a space telescope to search sphere. Hensley is the project scientist, and for more near-Earth asteroids – are JPL planetary scientist Sue Smrek- Leon Alkalai will be the capture lead among five concepts that NASA will ar, VERITAS principal investigator, for Phase A. Lockheed Martin would fund for further concept design stud- said the mission is designed to reveal be the spacecraft contractor. VERI- ies during the coming year. In Sep- Venus’ geologic history, determine TAS stands for Venus Emissivity, Ra- tember 2016, the agency expects to how active it is, and search for the dio Science, InSAR, Topography And pick one or two for final development fingerprints of past and present water. Spectroscopy. for flight. “The overarching question is, ‘How The huge metal asteroid Psyche The Venus orbiter, called VERITAS, Earthlike is Venus?’” said Smrekar. Continued on page 2 2 JPL CONCEPTS PICKED Continued from page 1 is the destination for the second se- Earth – perhaps yielding 10 times NEOCam is being shepherded by the lected JPL proposal. Also known as more near-Earth objects than all dis- Lab’s Astronomy, Physics and Space Universe Psyche, this spacecraft would use covered to date. Technology Directorate (7X). ion propulsion to reach and orbit the NEOCam builds on JPL principal “NEOCam is a solar system mis- 250-kilometer-wide object that circles investigator Amy Mainzer’s previous sion observing solar system objects, the sun in the main asteroid belt be- mission, the Wide-field Infrared Sur- but because of 7X’s involvement with tween Mars and Jupiter. Discovered in vey Explorer, which found 34,000 space telescopes it made sense for 1852, Psyche is unusual for its compo- asteroids and 135 near-Earth objects. us to develop this proposal,” said sition later found to be 90 percent iron The new space telescope would have Roger Lee, deputy manager of 7X’s and nickel, making it the largest metal a larger diameter and would feature a Astrophysics and Heliophysics For- asteroid ever identified. much wider field of view. mulation Office. According to the mission’s princi- Following launch, NEOCam would “All of these proposals have ben- pal investigator, Lindy Elkins-Tanton be stationed at the L1 Lagrange point efited from hard work, innovative so- of Arizona State University in Tempe, between Earth and the sun. That lutions and development approaches Psyche could be the remnant of a location provides a stable, cold en- in many offices across JPL, including massive collision in the early solar vironment allowing the infrared tele- the Foundry and 3X, that contributed “JPL’s representation in these selections is a very strong reflection of the quality of proposal work at the Lab and our success in teaming with science investigators,” said JPL Director Charles Elachi. system that stripped the mantle from a scope to function for many years significant content and technical re- protoplanet then forming, leaving only without the need for cryocoolers. view,” said Kim Reh, deputy manager its metal core. “Everyone wants to know about of 4X’s Solar System Mission Formu- Because the asteroid is so unusual, asteroids hitting Earth,” said Mainzer. lation Office. Elkins-Tanton said her mission con- “NEOCam is designed to settle the Lab Director Charles Elachi added, cept is “truly exploration.” “Nobody issue.” “JPL’s representation in these selec- has ever seen a metal world before,” George Sprague was the NEOCam tions is a very strong reflection of the she added. “We have no idea what it’s Step 1 capture lead. A JPL project quality of proposal work at the Lab going to look like.” manager is expected to be named and our success in teaming with sci- David Oh continues as the capture soon. Ball Aerospace would be the ence investigators.” lead for Psyche, Carol Polanskey is spacecraft contractor for NEOCam. “The Discovery competition re- the project scientist, and a JPL project In addition to the three JPL pro- mains extremely tough,” said Brent manager is expected to be named posals, two mission concepts from Sherwood, manager of 4X’s Solar soon. The spacecraft would be built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center System Mission Formulation Office. JPL, using a power-propulsion chassis were selected in the current Discov- “NASA received 28 proposals this provided by Space Systems Loral. ery Program announcement. time. Congratulations go to the hun- JPL’s third proposal, NEOCam, is VERITAS and Psyche are being dreds of JPLers who supported our the latest project designed to survey developed by JPL’s Solar System Step 1 campaign. Now the hard work potentially hazardous asteroids near Exploration Directorate (4X), while of competing in Step 2 begins.” n 3 Thousands EXOPLANETS discovered since Universe the first finding 20 years ago MARK THE SPOT By Mark Whalen An artist’s rendering of exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, discovered in October 1995. It’s about half the size of Jupiter and orbits its star in about four days. In 1995, a breakthrough for the world of astronomy came when around a sun-like star. This finding, Kepler-452b, brings the total two Swiss scientists announced the discovery of the first planet number of confirmed planets to 1,030. In addition, the Kepler ever found orbiting a sun-like star beyond our solar system. Known team has increased the number of new exoplanet candidates as 51 Pegasi b the planet was a “hot Jupiter,” much larger and by 521 based on their analysis of observations conducted from closer to its parent star than Earth is. May 2009 to May 2013. This raises the number of planet candi- That event ushered in an extraordinarily productive period for dates detected by the Kepler mission to 4,696. planet-finding. Over the past two decades more than 1,800 con- Such candidate exoplanets require follow-up observations firmed exoplanets have been discovered, some much more similar and analysis to verify they are actual planets. Twelve of the new to Earth. Throughout that time, JPL has played a major role in candidates have diameters between one to two times that of both existing discoveries as well as in helping chart the future of Earth, and orbit in their star’s habitable zone. Of these, nine orbit exoplanet exploration. stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature. JPL’s Spitzer Space Telescope originally was not designed to “The number of planets Kepler has discovered is pretty amaz- study planets around other stars, but one of the mission’s biggest ing,” said Leslie Livesay, JPL’s director for engineering and surprises is its abilities with exoplanets. Thanks to its steady gaze science who previously served as Kepler project manager. “It’s and some clever engineering, it has pioneered the study of atmo- shown us that exoplanets are more abundant than stars. One in spheres and weather on large, gaseous exoplanets. five stars is going to have an Earth analog planet.” Spitzer can help narrow down the sizes of exoplanets too, and NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Office, which is based at JPL, recently confirmed the closest known rocky planet to Earth, HD leads all planet-seeking study themes across the agency. The 219134b. The infrared observatory also works in tandem with other office coordinates work to define scientific investigations and telescopes that use a planet-hunting technique called microlensing the missions that carry them out, building on each other’s suc- to find some of the most distant exoplanets known. cess. By far the lion’s share of exoplanet discoveries, however, have Looking to the future, JPL is working with NASA’s Goddard been the work of NASA’s Kepler mission. JPL was asked by the Space Flight Center on Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, agency to manage Kepler’s spacecraft development, and contin- or WFIRST, a space-based observatory designed to settle es- ues to support science activities. sential questions in both exoplanet and dark energy research. In its most recent major discovery, in July of this year, Kepler It was the top priority space mission identified in the 2010 confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” Continued on page 5 4 Universe Following the water By Mark Whalen Lujendra Ojha, the former JPL graduate fellow whose research re- Former JPL researcher finds vealed the strongest evidence yet for for water on present-day Mars. evidence of water on Mars today When NASA announced in late Sep- Ojha first noticed puzzling downhill Planitia. Although unrelated to the Mars tember that JPL’s Mars Reconnaissance flows—known as recurring slope lineae, water findings, Smrekar recalls a dedicat- Orbiter provided the strongest evidence often described as possibly related to ed, hardworking but modest researcher.