Overview of the Planetary Missions Program Office

The Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO; ST30) is a Level 2 program office that consolidates program management for missions within the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Planetary Science Division (PSD) Discovery, New Frontiers, and Solar System Exploration Programs and SMD’s Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads Program (not shown here) into a single management structure. The managed programs are comprised of a series of planetary science missions that are independent and uncoupled but share a common management structure. Missions are selected by SMD as either directed missions or through a competitive process as an Announcement of Opportunity (i.e., stand-alone) or a Mission of Opportunity (i.e., contribution to larger mission). PMPO currently manages a portfolio of projects from medium-class satellite missions to technology demonstrations in various phases of the mission lifecycle from formulation to extended mission operations.