Getting a Discovery or New Frontiers mission from announcement to second-step selection currently takes NASA about 35 months. Under a new plan, called Competition Model 2.0, the agency wants it done in about 19.5.

NASA's science chief, Nicola Fox, says the new model competes on science first. Step 1 for Astro-Probes, New Frontiers and Discovery would ask for only three things: a science case, a science implementation plan and a proof-of-concept mission design.

This, according to NASA, filters out........

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