The Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) advises the Space Studies Board (SSB) on the entire range of planetary science studies; these include both ground-based activities and space-based efforts. The disciplinary scope of its advice includes the geosciences, atmospheres, exobiology, particles and fields, planetary astronomy, and the search for planets around other stars.
COMPLEX's advisory base is made up of a series of reports published over the last 15 years. These documents (see bibliography) establish the scientific goals and objectives in each of the following areas: inner planets, outer planets, primitive solar system bodies, detection and study of other planetary systems, and origins and evolution of life (a responsibility inherited from the SSB's former Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution). To date, COMPLEX strategy has not set scientific priorities across the entire field of planetary science. However, because of the increasing competition for limited resources, it is now desirable to undertake this prioritization.
As a result, the SSB charged COMPLEX with carrying out a study to establish a unified set of priorities for the scientific exploration of the planets. In particular, the study was to address the following points:
The study began with a workshop in Irvine, California, in July 1992. Invited presenters briefed the committee on the latest developments in each of the discipline areas. Following the presentations, COMPLEX members and guests adjourned to discussion groups to produce documents summarizing the status of knowledge in each of the relevant subject areas. These drafts became the foundation on which subsequent phases of the study were built.
Work on the report continued with visits to major centers for research in the planetary sciences. At each site, COMPLEX was briefed on future mission possibilities, while additional presentations were loosely organized around a common theme. The sites visited included NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, theme: space-based observatories (September 1992); NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, theme: microrobotic technology (January 1993); and University of Arizona, theme: ground-based observatories (April 1993). At each of these locations, COMPLEX gave a public presentation on the nature of its study and invited input from the local community. In some cases, these presentations were followed by extended group discussions with local scientists.
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