back to article NASA short-lists six candidates for future missions

NASA has published a shortlist of six missions its considering for launch from the year 2022. All are part of the space agency's “Explorers Program”, which aims to do heliophysics and astrophysics on modest budgets. The program runs “Medium-Class” missions with a budget cap of US$250m and “Missions of Opportunity” that get …

  1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    You forgot CRAPTO

    Contrived Rubbish Acronym Purporting To Oraclate. I think Google's got the right idea - just name your project after something yummy.

    1. Tom 38

      Re: You forgot CRAPTO

      Cool project names are a colour and a noun, both entirely unrelated to the project. I think this might have been a military thing?

      1. Alister

        Re: You forgot CRAPTO

        Or a verb and a colour, eg "HAVE BLUE"

        A colour and a noun could lead to the Blue Oyster bar if you're not careful...

        1. John Smith 19 Gold badge

          "Or a verb and a colour, eg "HAVE BLUE""

          Historically, US programmes with "have" in the name have been to acquire a capability to do something.

          IIRC "Senior" implied it was a long range or strategic system. I think the SR71 was "Senior Trend" at one time.

  2. RyokuMas
    Facepalm

    Come on...

    Can we please stop this buggering about and focus on getting our asses to Mars... or at least back to the moon...

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Come on...

      That's Elon's job... NASA's job is to faff around uselessly and waste money. They haven't had an honest-to-god direction or plan in 45 years.

    2. Captain DaFt

      Re: Come on...

      Can we please stop this buggering about and focus on getting our asses to Mars... or at least back to the moon...

      Instead of these "one shot" projects, how about a permanent, long term space lab for space exploration? Big enough to hold a proper crew of dozens in a shirt sleeve enviroment. Build/park it in a proper Earth orbit, supply it with shuttles, then off to Moon, Mars, Titan, Europa, or whatever.

      Long term missions in a proper solar system explorer.

      And I'm talking a proper ship here, not some piddly little satellite that's not even high enough to clear the thermosphere, let alone the exosphere.

      DAMMIT! I want the 21st Century that I was promised as a kid!

      Not this "Shut up and enjoy this new gadget designed to distract you" Bizarro timeline I seem to have fallen into!

  3. Alister
    Unhappy

    short-lists six candidates

    When I saw the headline, I was hoping NASA had decided to nominate some meatbags for a human space mission.

    No such luck :(

    1. Steve the Cynic

      Re: short-lists six candidates

      Yeah, my thought was a challenge with a mission of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth".

      The original version was also "by the end of the decade", but since the current decade has less than two and a half years to run, that might be a bit tight on the timing.

      But hey, at least we know how to build a launcher that can put 47 tonnes into lunar orbit. Well, that's not obvious from the current crop, all of which would struggle, at the best of times, to put 47 tonnes into LEO. But fifty years ago, we knew how to do it.

      (Yes, it was hilariously expensive per launch, but that has more to do with the size of the launcher than with its expendable nature. When the turbopumps to drive the first stage motors consume 55000 horsepower from a gas generator just to keep enough fuel and oxidiser flowing, you know you're on to something ... big.)

      EDIT: 55000 horsepower per motor. There were five.

      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Boffin

        "all of which would struggle, at the best of times, to put 47 tonnes into LEO. "

        Not so.

        The biggest versions of all the main US launchers firing in salvo (over slightly more than a week) could put 62 tonnes into LEO right now. SpaceX FH will put about 20 tonnes on that number.

        Without a dime spent on development.

        How you use that capacity to implement a mission is a tougher question.

  4. David Nash Silver badge

    They should give it to the one with the best acronym. That seems to be one of the most important things to the project teams anyway!

    1. The Mole

      Obviously a lack of scientific rigour should be a criteria - so if you manipulate the results and present an 'acronym' that doesn't include all your words it should be instantly binned.

      Looking again that is most of these candidates out then.

  5. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    They never got back to me after I submitted my proposal for Space Hosted Interconnected Telemetry.

  6. Stoke the atom furnaces

    Ice Giants

    Wish NASA would get their finger out and send Cassini-like probes to orbit both Neptune and Uranus.

    Now that would be cool.

  7. ZippedyDooDah
    Coat

    SMSF

    Satty McSattyface

    Shoot me please.

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