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 The year 2009 looks to spell a lot of new space missions for NASA after the agency forwarded its 2009 budget request to the U.S. government. Three new robotic missions to the Moon, two new Earth science missions, and an ambitious mission to the outer solar system have been noted on NASA's agenda.
President George W. Bush requested a total of US$ 17.614 billion for NASA's fiscal year 2009. Here are some of the highlights of the budget:
- US$ 2.6 billion to purchase crew and cargo flights to the space station during the gap between the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 and the first planned flights of NASA's Orion spacecraft in 2015
- A commitment to a major mission to the outer planets in the US$ 3 billion price range
- Three new robotic missions to the Moon
- A boost for Earth science, including money for two new space missions
- Cancellation of the "New Millennium" programme, which tested advanced technologies for use in space missions
- A new small space mission to study extrasolar planets
The outer solar system mission will take a look at some of the moons on Saturn and Jupiter. One spacecraft mission includes probing into the depth of Europa's icy ocean surface, while another will set a lander, orbiter and balloon-borne robot that will explore Saturn's moon, Titan. The third mission will have a spacecraft fly by Jupiter and orbit around its largest moon Ganymede.
Other missions closer to Earth will include landing two small landers called the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer to act as geophysical monitoring stations on the Moon. Finally, an Earth science spacecraft will be constructed in the next five years which will work on monitoring soil moisture and changes in the polar ice caps.
NASA has already bought several commercial flights for the mission from Russia. It will also be looking into purchasing several more from the Europe Space Agency's ATV and Japan's HTV spacecraft.
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