Interstellar Probe: Planning the Future of Space Exploration and Science

NASA was founded, and continues, to be the global leader in space science and exploration. For three years, NASA has been funding the study of an ambitious mission concept that would re-set the bar for what adventurous and challenging missions of the future look like. Interstellar Probe would launch faster and fly farther than any spacecraft that has yet been set on an escape trajectory out of the solar system. Speeding more than twice as fast as Voyager 1, the current record holder, Interstellar Probe would study the heliosphere in situ, pass through the heliosheath and heliopause in about a decade, and continue on to explore the nearby interstellar medium during a 50 year journey. The principles guiding this mission include adherence to an architecture that does not require any technological breakthroughs, and is not founded on un-funded and risky developmental programs. Instead, it is crafted to use available components and systems while sending state-of-the-art instrumentation to as-yet-unexplored regions of space. But the challenge of a 50-year mission plan comes with some significant hurdles. If this mission is indicated by the upcoming Space and Solar Physics Decadal Survey as a priority for the Agency, it will face the challenges of long-term programmatic planning; policy considerations for establishing and maintaining funding; mission personnel continuity and training; and the cultural shifts that will undoubtably come through the decades of operation. The study team has addressed these concerns and already begun to put into practice the principles that will ensure mission and programmatic success. Team building has included open and inclusive recruiting, mentoring and promotion of younger staff as they grow in their abilities, and active outreach to connect this dramatic mission plan with the public through the human stories that have brought Interstellar Probe this far. This talk will include an overview of the study team's work, the baseline mission plan, and details of how this mission, or any multi-decade mission to the outer solar system, could be run to ensure its successful return of exciting science for decades of front page news stories and volumes of top-quality space science publications. This talk will also discuss the national policy element of this or any large strategic mission, including a review of what other national space agencies are planning for escape-trajectory missions, and a look at the current funding levels to consider what might be required by our society to enable NASA to continue to be the leading agency in space science and exploration.