Prior to 2013, NASA’s Planetary Science Division had two main instrument growth packages: the Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program (PIDDP) and the Astrobiology Science and Technology for Instrument Development (ASTID) Program. However, the mixture of PIDDP and ASTID didn’t actually represent an instrument growth pipeline, and to fully develop an instrument to the purpose the place it could possibly be proposed for a mission required repeated and expensive proposals to each packages. Exacerbating this downside was the shortage of a program which explicitly supported the maturation of applied sciences from TRL 4 to six—the so-called “valley of death.”
The Planetary Science Division restructured its instrument growth packages in 2013 to ease the complete growth and maturation of instrument applied sciences throughout all the Division’s objectives. The Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations Program (PICASSO) helps the definition and growth of devices TRLs 1 by means of 3 for all planetary science objectives. The Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration Program (MatISSE) equally helps the maturation of devices TRLs 3 by means of 6. Together, PICASSO and MatISSE type an built-in pipeline for taking devices from preliminary ideas to prototypes capable of be proposed for missions.
Selected ASTID Proposals