NASA accepted 26 original proposals for the next Discovery mission project they are funding to be started in 2005 or 2006. They narrowed the field to three finalists. The hardest part is next: to choose only one winner with the best science value.

Out of 26 original proposals, three made it through the first round of elimination toward the $300 million prize by NASA. Only one of the three remaining Discovery mission proposals can be chosen to be launched in 2005 or 2006.

Each of the three remaining teams will receive $450,000 to conduct a detailed study. The winner will be announced in late 2001.

The first proposal is the Kepler project, headed by William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Kepler is a specially designed telescope that will search the solar neighborhood expecting to discover about 500 Earth-sized planets and about 1,000 Jupiter-sized planets during a 4-year mission.

The second proposal is the Interior Structure and Internal Dynamical Evolution of Jupiter (INSIDE Jupiter) mission led by Edward Smith of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft will orbit the giant planet and make high-resolution maps of its magnetic and gravitational fields.

The third proposal is Dawn, led by Christopher Russell of UCLA. The spacecraft will orbit both the Ceres and Vesta asteroids. The two asteroids formed and evolved in different parts of the solar system, and scientists hope Dawn will help them better understand the early solar system.