Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut |
Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut |
Mar 24 2008, 09:11 PM
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#1
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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 28 2008, 11:19 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 715 Joined: 22-April 05 Member No.: 351 |
The process for prioritizing planetary missions really isn't that different than the process for prioritizing astronomy missions. There are as many camps in the astronomy world as there are in the planetary world. In many of the cases the camps in the planetary world aren't even between destinations as between measurement types. The guys (and gals!) who study samples have their own priorities and are the big pushers behind MSR. Then there are the guys who build remote sensing instruments vs. the guys who build in situ instruments. I talked with one very senior Mars scientist (I promised anonymity) and he says there's a big fight between those who want to delay MSR so we know better where to sample and those who just want samples (and funding) for their labs as soon as possible.
Politics are always messy. It can either be autocratic or democratic. There are proven processes, assuming you have good leaders (who are pushing the process, and not their own priorities), that can create consensus. There are already good processes within the Mars and the rest of the solar system communities. Those processes need to be merged. -------------------- |
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