Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the - Solar System ...

FIGURE 1.12 Titan beyond Saturn and its rings, as viewed by Cassini on May 10, 2006. SOURCE:
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT
The committee’s statement of task (Appendix A) calls for this report to contain three principal
elements: a survey of planetary science, an assessment of and recommendations relating to NASA
activities, and an assessment of and recommendations relating to NSF activities. The following sections
map its chapters onto the specific tasks the committee was asked to address.
Survey of the Planetary Sciences
• Overview of planetary science, what it is, why it is a compelling undertaking, and the
relationship between space- and ground-based planetary science research—The scientific context is
discussed in Chapter 1 and the relationship between space- and ground-based research and related
programmatic issues relating to planetary science activities at NASA and NSF is found in Chapter 2.
• Survey of the current state of knowledge of the solar system—A high-level overview of
current knowledge, together with a discussion of three crosscutting themes and 10 high priority questions
underlying most current activities in this field is found in Chapter 3. The priority questions introduced in
Chapter 3 are developed and refined for the primitive bodies, the inner planets, Mars, the giant planets,
and the satellites of the giant planets in Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, respectively.
• Inventory of the top-level scientific questions that should guide NASA flight mission
investigations and supporting research programs and NSF’s activities—Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and
summarized in Chapter 3.
NSF Activities
• Assessment of NSF support for the planetary sciences—A detailed discussion of relevant
NSF activities, including support for infrastructure and research programs, together with related
recommendations is given in Chapter 10.
PREPUBLICATION COPY—SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITORIAL CORRECTION
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