What is the New Millennium Program?
NASA has an ambitious plan for space exploration in the next century. It envisions a scenario in which spacecraft will have revolutionary new capabilities compared to those of today. One goal of the New Millennium Program is to have lots of spacecraft in space at once on different missions. A quote that a lot of people use at NASA is that the New Millennium Program will establish a “virtual presence” in space, meaning lots of spacecraft will be constantly giving us information from all parts of the solar system, in effect being our spaceborne “eyes and ears.” But making and keeping track of a lot of spacecraft is expensive both in terms of manpower and materials costs. Therefore spacecraft in the new Millennium must be inexpensive and able to control themselves and not have to communicate with Earth all the time—in other words, autonomous. NASA also wants them to go to all areas of the solar system, even those areas from which communication with Earth is impossible (like under the ic
