NASA has always aimed to be innovative in the field of aeronautics particularly in the advancement of earth science and space programs to be able to initiate technology-advanced and interesting outer space missions. However, these kind of endeavors require a lot of money, so scientists and engineers must come up with practical and cost-efficient ways to carry out these significant projects. In order to maximize the resources and time of NASA, they must exploit all aspects of technology to learn about the different possibilities in deep space with all certainty and confidence that the missions will be successful.In line with this, the New Millennium Program (NMP) was created by NASA to increase the understanding on high risks outer space missions by developing and validating the operations of innovative technologies.
NMP carries out orbiting missions into deep space and earth using a spacecraft which is intended to examine the reliability of advanced technologies wherein the results can be used to influence the improvement of future and increase the success rates of space missions.The mission of the NMP is focused on identifying the risk of utilizing new technologies. However, NMP technology missions are not solely determined by science requirements. It takes into account the specific needs of technology in a particular mission which will be tested for validity and reliability. More so, the major technologies that are used for each mission serve as the basis to which validation is required to lessen the risk of future missions.
Furthermore, through this program, all resources and efforts will be maximized and optimized even though it has employed untried and unverified forms of technology. The Deeps Space 1 (DS1) Mission was one of the first missions developed by NASA for the New Millennium Program. It sought to validate new technologies for future space and earth missions using low cost equipments to deliver high-risk functions. It was one of the programs rigorously integrated and exercised flight and comet observations.This paper will tackle the DS1 mission by giving a brief overview of the mission, the NMP and the technologies utilized within its scope. It aims to identify the kind of technologies that were integrated in the program and if they have contributed additional knowledge to the science community.
Through extensive research, this paper will determine if NASA was able to achieve the main objective of the DS1 mission. Also, the results of the research can pave the way for the enrichment of science as well as the advancement of humankind in the quest for understanding the unknown.The general success of the Deep Space 1 mission had contributed in the growth of science and technology in relation to the of future space and earth missions. NASA’s and JPL’s support for the program guided the mission to be executed in a methodical and practical manner. Because of the success of the mission, new discoveries and new scientific processes were exposed that helped in advancing space missions a step further through the utilization of state-of-the-art technology and time management techniques.
