New Millennium Program
NASA's New Millennium program is focused on engineering validation of new technologies for space applications.
Past New Millennium missions include:
- Deep Space 1, standalone spacecraft testing solar electric propulsion, autonomous operation etc; successful mission 1998-2001 including comet and asteroid encounters
- Deep Space 2, Mars surface penetrators flown with Mars Polar Lander in 1999; failed
- Earth Observing 1, launched in 2000; successful [1] (see also Earth Observing System)
Cancelled missions:
- Deep Space 4/Space Technology 4, also known as Champollion, was planned for launch in 2003 to orbit and land on comet Tempel 1 and return a sample in 2010; it was cancelled in 1999
Planned missions include:
- Earth Observing 3, also known as GIFTS (Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer) -- launch 2005-6
- Space Technology 5, a cluster of three satellites investigating the Earth's magnetosphere planned for 2005
- Space Technology 6, autonomy (Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment aboard Earth Observing 1 in 2004) and navigation (Inertial Stellar Compass to fly 2004/5)
- Space Technology 7, disturbance reduction technology to support gravitational wave observations; launch 2006 on LISA Pathfinder
- Space Technology 8, launch 2005-6