Is Europa really the "highest priority" of the community?, Cleave said it was at LPSC? |
Is Europa really the "highest priority" of the community?, Cleave said it was at LPSC? |
Mar 15 2006, 05:50 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2547 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
From Emily's LPSC blog: "Bob Pappalardo would not sit down until he got Cleave to acknowledge that Europa is the consensus highest priority of the planetary science community."
Cleave was obviously poorly prepared for this session, but I don't see that this acknowledgement is either meaningful or particularly accurate. If Europa were the "highest priority" of the PS community as a whole, then one might wonder why we were spending all this money on Mars. I could easily imagine that Europa is the highest priority of the outer planets community, but frankly I was surprised when Europa Orbiter appeared in the '07 budget (presumably the result of some serious lobbying on someone's part.) It was pretty obvious to me then that there would be no money for it, especially in the aftermath of JPL running the old EO project into the ground with cost overruns and engineering upscopes. (And JIMO is best forgotten.) Don't get me wrong, I would love to be involved with a Europa mission (we did what I think was a good proposal design for EO) but I don't see either the money or the political support being there in the near term. I know it's frustrating, but one has to be realistic, and it might help to avoid the aura of entitlement that I perceive is building in some parts of the community (not referring to you, Bob). Of course, I am just a lowly engineer. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 17 2006, 04:33 AM
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Guests |
Yeah, before we start sniffling too much about our cruel mistreatment, we really should keep in mind that the situation right now is not even remotely comparable to the genuine desert of the 1980s. We are now in the Second Golden Age of Solar System Exploration -- just a brief look at what's happened or is scheduled to happen this year alone makes that clear. We could, however, be doing even better.
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Mar 17 2006, 08:26 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
We are now in the Second Golden Age of Solar System Exploration... Damn right, Bruce. Active interplanetary spacecraft currently returning science data, not counting those in orbital storage or science spacecraft in solar orbit: 1. Messenger 2. Venus Express 3. SMART-1 4. Ulysses 5. MGS 6. Mars Odyssey 7. MRO 8. Mars Express 9. Spirit 10. Opportunity 11. New Horizons 12. Cassini 13. Voyager 1 14. Voyager 2 (15. Hayabusa) Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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Mar 17 2006, 03:40 PM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4405 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Damn right, Bruce. Active interplanetary spacecraft currently returning science data, not counting those in orbital storage or science spacecraft in solar orbit: 1. Messenger 2. Venus Express 3. SMART-1 4. Ulysses 5. MGS 6. Mars Odyssey 7. MRO 8. Mars Express 9. Spirit 10. Opportunity 11. New Horizons 12. Cassini 13. Voyager 1 14. Voyager 2 (15. Hayabusa) Bob Shaw Good list...you could also add Stardust and Deep Impact in parentheses, given their possible extensions. -------------------- |
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Mar 18 2006, 04:55 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 600 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 476 |
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