Editing Discovery Program (section)

{{Short description|Solar system exploration program by NASA}}
{{distinguish|Space Shuttle Discovery|CORONA (satellite)#Discoverer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2019}}
[[File:Discovery program website header, 2016.png|thumb|500px|right|Header of the Discovery Program website (January 2016)<ref>{{cite web |title=Discovery Program Official Website (January 2016) |url=http://discovery.nasa.gov/index.cfml |publisher=[[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)]] |date=January 15, 2016 |access-date=January 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115105036/http://discovery.nasa.gov/index.cfml |archive-date=January 15, 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>]]
[[File:Lucy and Psyche discovery-missions 13 and 14-v3.jpg|thumb|Depictions of the ''Lucy'' and ''Psyche'' missions]]
[[File:Properties of regolith on Eros.jpg|thumb|Asteroid [[433 Eros|Eros]] regolith, as viewed by Discovery's NEAR Shoemaker mission]]
The '''Discovery Program''' is a series of [[Solar System exploration]] missions funded by the U.S. [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) through its [[Planetary Missions Program Office]]. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's [[New Frontiers program|New Frontiers]] or [[Flagship Program|Flagship]] Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose.

The Discovery Program was founded in 1990 to implement the policy of the then-NASA administrator [[Daniel S. Goldin]] of "[[faster, better, cheaper]]"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Daniel S. Goldin|url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/dan_goldin.html|access-date=2020-09-18|publisher=NASA|archive-date=December 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208234004/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/dan_goldin.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[planetary science]] missions. Existing NASA programs had specified mission targets and objectives in advance, then sought bidders to construct and operate them. In contrast, Discovery missions are solicited through a [[call for proposals]] on any science topic and assessed through [[peer review]]. Selected missions are led by a scientist called the [[principal investigator]] (PI) and may include contributions from industry, universities or government laboratories.

The Discovery Program also includes Missions of Opportunity, which fund U.S. participation in spacecraft operated by other space agencies, for example by contributing a single [[scientific instrument]]. It can also be used to re-purpose an existing NASA spacecraft for a new mission.

As of June 2021, the most recently selected Discovery missions were [[VERITAS (spacecraft)|VERITAS]] and [[DAVINCI]], the fifteenth and sixteenth missions in the program.<ref name=nasataps>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/01/breaking-nasa-taps-missions-tiny-metal-world-and-jupiter-trojans|title=Updated: NASA taps missions to tiny metal world and Jupiter Trojans|date=2017-01-04|newspaper=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|publisher=AAAS|access-date=2017-01-04}}</ref>