NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
Nov 7 2005, 03:55 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
NASA Dawn Asteroid Mission Told To ‘Stand Down’ .
The decision to stand down, according to SPACE.com sources, appears related to budget-related measures and workforce cutbacks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051107_dawn_qown.html Rakhir |
|
|
Nov 7 2005, 07:36 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 220 Joined: 13-October 05 Member No.: 528 |
I suspect the reason is both budgetary and technical.
Nearly three years ago I met a guy who was working as an 'intern' at JPL. He worked at another NASA center, and was essentially getting cross training by working at JPL for a while. He told me at the time that Dawn was experiencing a lot of technical problems. At least one engineer had commented in a review meeting that "Deep Space 1 suceeding may have been the worst thing that ever happened to JPL" I got the impression that JPL basically sold NASA headquarters that the Dawn mission could stay within Discovery Program cost constraints by stating that it would use a lot of design inheritance from Deep Space 1. My friend told me that the thing he learned from all this was never take at face value anyone who uses the phrase "design inheritance" ... unless they are truely using the original component almost precisely as originally designed. Well, Dawn is not Deep Space 1 with an extra couple ion thrusters, and it's been in cost and technical trouble ever since. I suspect that with the 5 % workforce reduction at JPL, NASA headquarters wants to be darn sure that the reduction in personell doesn't mean that Dawn is threatened by either budget shortfalls or loss of any key personell. Of course... there is also that nagging voice in the back of my head that reminds me that Discovery 2004 down select yeilded no mission, and the 2005 RFP Discovery was delayed for "several weeks" in April, and we still haven't seen that come out. So there may be a LOT of budget problems in Discovery land. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 8th June 2024 - 03:44 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |