NASA announced Competition Model 2.0 on October 21, 2026, changing how it selects science missions. The policy prioritizes scientific proposals before detailed engineering and cost work.
Under the new two-step process, Astro-Probes, New Frontiers, and Discovery proposals begin with a science case, implementation plan, and preliminary mission design. Selected concepts proceed to implementation studies involving Goddard Space Flight Center or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with a possible role for the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Discovery and New Frontiers.
NASA projects that two-step selection will take about 19.5 months instead of 35 months. Smaller mission categories move to a single-step competition, with a projected selection period of about 19 months instead of 32.
These estimates concern selection, not launch. NASA’s Systems Engineering Handbook distinguishes early mission formulation from spacecraft construction and flight preparation. Phase A develops the concept and technology. Phase B develops the preliminary design and completes necessary technology work. Final design and fabrication follow in Phase C; assembly, integration, testing, and launch belong to Phase D. Selecting a mission earlier changes when that project can advance through development, rather than eliminating the subsequent engineering work.
Discovery and New Frontiers serve different scales of planetary investigation within NASA’s science portfolio. The planetary science decadal survey supplies scientific priorities for that portfolio, including questions about planetary origins, evolution, and habitability. The competition policy addresses how candidate missions are evaluated and developed.
Flagship management remains unchanged. NASA will introduce the reforms in stages and has scheduled an October 26 town hall to explain the policy.
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