BepiColombo Status |
BepiColombo Status |
Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Dec 1 2005, 12:11 AM
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#1
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Excerpt from a News article by Jenny Hogan in the December 1, 2005, issue of Nature:
"The [funding] situation has led to speculation that BepiColombo, a mission destined for a 2013 launch to Mercury, might be cancelled. 'That is the big danger painted in the sky,' says Karl-Heinz Glassmeier, principal investigator on one of the instruments proposed for the spacecraft. "Nerves were set jangling about the project, which also involves the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, after it was postponed because the initial design was too heavy. That problem seems to have been solved, but officials say the estimated cost of the mission, at 600 million [euros] to 650 million [euros], is still more than 100 million [euros] above target." Reference: Europe's cash crisis puts space plans under threat Jenny Hogan Nature 438, 542-543 (2005) doi:10.1038/438542a Full Text |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Dec 12 2005, 09:25 PM
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#2
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B.C. seems to be out of danger for the moment. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051205/full/051205-7.html :
"The budget decisions boost ESA's science programme, which will get the full 2.1 billion it requested. This translates to a budget that will go up by 2.5% a year over the next five years. And it is enough to allay fears that flagship missions would be cancelled in the face of budget shortfalls (see 'Europe's cash crisis puts space plans under threat')." Also: "ExoMars secured more money than was asked for: the mission might now be enhanced by adding more instruments or a companion orbiter." |
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Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Dec 15 2005, 09:33 PM
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#3
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QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 12 2005, 09:25 PM) B.C. seems to be out of danger for the moment. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051205/full/051205-7.html I've delayed replying because I've been hearing through the grapevine that BepiColombo may still be at risk, notwithstanding the recently announced 2.5% increase over the next five years to ESA's Science Programme. BepiColombo's cost overruns, even with the de-scope in dropping the MSE lander and the delay in launch date, remain troubling. And Daniel Clery's news article ("ESA Hits the Right Note, and Funding Flows") in the December 16, 2005, issue of Science hints that BepiColombo may not be out of the woods yet: "Cost overruns in several missions over the past few years have put the science program under severe pressure. It forced the cancellation of the Eddington planet-hunting mission in 2003 (Science, 14 November 2003, p. 1130) and put the BepiColombo mission to Mercury under threat. The program 'was facing a major crisis,' says space scientist Mark Sims of the University of Leicester, U.K. Last week's reversal 'makes many difficulties go away but not all of them,' he adds. Southwood says the program will host a meeting of researchers in January to plan future priorities; in February, ESA's Science Program Committee will meet to decide which of four missions on the program's roster--Solar Orbiter, BepiColombo, the Gaia star-mapper, and LISA, a gravitational-wave interferometer--will get the go-ahead." This post has been edited by AlexBlackwell: Dec 16 2005, 01:18 AM |
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