Sentence examples for precursor mission from inspiring English sources

Nasa has been heavily criticised over its precursor mission, to capture an asteroid and push it into an orbit near the moon, but insists it needs to do so for technological development.

LISA Pathfinder is the precursor mission to LISA designed to validate the core technologies intended for LISA.

For more than 20 years, an "Interstellar Precursor Mission" has been discussed as a high priority for science.

And there is no doubting that this remarkable proposal was hurt in the eyes of some observers by the fact that its precursor mission has yet to fly.

For more than 20 years, an "Interstellar Precursor Mission" has been discussed as a high-priority mission for multiple scientific objectives.

The RLLDP team has produced mission architecture designs for multiple airless body missions to meet both science and human precursor mission needs.

"On all previous space missions that have involved landings on other worlds – on the Moon or Mars, for example – there have been precursor missions that have pinpointed good spots for touchdown," said Paolo Ferri, head of operations for Esa.

The Writer Responds Like Mr. Granstein, I hesitated to characterize the planned precursor missions to an asteroid or Mars orbit as "scientifically useless," but did so because I have not seen a credible explanation of what scientific, or other, benefits will result from them.

Figure 3 QKD precursor missions.

Such experiments could be payloads onboard precursor missions, including unmanned private-public partnerships, as well as small low-cost spacecraft (satellites) designed specifically for biosentinel-type missions.

Laser propulsion for interstellar precursor missions is an idea that's been around for a while: essentially, equip a craft with an ion thruster, put some solar panels on it and then blast it with a powerful laser.