Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut |
Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut |
Mar 24 2008, 09:11 PM
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 3 Joined: 12-March 08 Member No.: 4062 |
Just found out today at a MER all-hands meeting that both MER and Odyssey will each be suffering an immediate $4 million budget cut to help defray the cost of MSL. Read more here: http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/200...rs-budget-cuts/
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Mar 26 2008, 01:18 PM
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Not wanting to kick a gift horse in the mouth and then run away with its hay, and maybe I watched too many conspiracy-filled X-Files episodes, but as brilliant as this news is, and thank you whoever tore that letter up... this reprieve sounds a bit quick and easy, doesn't it? So what was the point of all that? Was it The Powers That Be firing a "We're keeping an eye on your spending" warning shot across the bows of the Mars exploration community? A hand-slap for the MSL people, letting them know that other projects and programs might suffer if they don't get a handle on spending? A water-testing exercise to see what public reaction there'd be to possibly shutting down a rover? A similar test of reaction within the scientific community? A way of seeing if there would be any interest or approaches from private companies or individuals interested in funding/sponsoring space exploration?
Looking at the bigger picture, was this a subtle sign that perhaps, just perhaps, NASA is losing faith in the possibility of finding life - or even just evidence of past life - on Mars until they can afford a sample return mission, and this focus on the Outer Worlds is a shift towards conducting outer solar system exo-biology, on what many think are more promising candidates for life such as Europa, Titan and Enceladus..? Discuss. -------------------- |
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