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Our solar system is a place of beauty and mystery with extreme environments, amazing diversity and continuous change. It is also a magnificent laboratory, where humans seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe and our place within it.
New Frontiers is a program to explore the solar system with frequent, medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system. The program objective is to launch high-science-return planetary science investigations on an average of one every 36 months. Added to the NASA budget for the first time in 2003, New Frontiers will build on the innovative approaches used in NASA’s Discovery and Explorer Programs, but will provide a mechanism for identifying and selecting missions that cannot be accomplished within the cost and time constraints of Discovery. Also New Frontiers permits the use of Radioisotope Power Systems to provide on-board power.
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