4 Precursor Mission Design 4.1 Introduction

4.1.3 Precursor Mission Objectives

In order to increase public support, the design of the precursor missions has to fulfill the following objectives:

  • Scientific return
  • Focused engineering/scientific objective
  • Realism (ie. is the mission feasible, realistic?)
  • Stepping stone for future human space exploration
  • Low cost (< 250-million US$)
  • Fill a niche (performs something that has not been done before)
  • Promoting commercial expenditure in space
  • Minimal risk of losing mission
  • Fast results

The ordering is decreasing priority. The priority was obtained through individual voting of the authors.

NEXT >

[Home] [ISU]