NASA的发现计划是一系列探索太阳系的低成本，任务目标非常聚焦的美国科学太空任务。此计划于1992年由当时NASA署长Daniel S. Goldin成立，他的愿景是实现"更快，更好，更便宜“的行星探索任务。与其他一般NASA任务不同，那些任务的目标与目的都事先决定好。相反地，这些成本有上限的任务由计划主持人科学家所领导。提案的团队成员可包括工业界，小型企业，政府实验室以及大学。提案经由相当竞争的同侪审查过程。所有已完成的任务都大幅增加了人类对太阳系的了解。

NASA也接受Discovery Program Mission of Opportunity的提案。这提供了一个机会让一些科学仪器或硬件组件可以获得资金参与非NASA的任务，或者为一个已经完成任务的太空船重新规划任务。

NASA's Discovery Program (as compared to New Frontiers or Flagship Programs) is a series of lower-cost, highly focused American scientific space missions that are exploring the Solar System. It was founded in 1992 to implement then-NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's vision of "faster, better, cheaper" planetary missions. Discovery missions differ from traditional NASA missions where targets and objectives are pre-specified. Instead, these cost-capped missions are proposed and led by a scientist called the Principal Investigator (PI). Proposing teams may include people from industry, small businesses, government laboratories, and universities. Proposals are selected through a competitive peer review process. All of the completed Discovery missions are accomplishing ground-breaking science and adding significantly to the body of knowledge about the Solar System.