NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
Nov 7 2005, 03:55 PM
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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 |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Jan 23 2006, 08:38 AM
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Guests |
That possibility was discussed at the November COMPLEX meeting where I first heard that Dawn would be put in a stand-down mode -- and it was quickly dismissed by Andy Dantzler on the grounds that changing Dawn to a one-asteroid mission would only very slightly lower its cost. Its science payload has also been whittled down to an absolute minimum.
I do wonder, though, whether it might be possible to augment its previous budget with the $35 million that goes to the next Discovery Mission of Opportunity, allowing it to fly after all, albeit late. NASA might be amenable to this way out of the problem, given how close the craft is to completion. I intend to look into this. |
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Jan 23 2006, 02:36 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 242 Joined: 21-December 04 Member No.: 127 |
QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Jan 23 2006, 08:38 AM) I do wonder, though, whether it might be possible to augment its previous budget with the $35 million that goes to the next Discovery Mission of Opportunity, allowing it to fly after all, albeit late. NASA might be amenable to this way out of the problem, given how close the craft is to completion. I intend to look into this. Bruce, to me the question really is whether the NASA managers for DAWN feel any confidence that the contractor running the project can even tell them what the overrun is going to me to complete the project. I can't speak to the technical side of it, but it is pretty clear the budgeting assumptions used in the proposal were way ouf of whack with reality. Right now we have an almost completed spacecraft...but that is a sunk cost. How much is on the table: 1) There will be funds left in the project budget category for completion of the spacecraft and operations. 2) NASA has got to fund the launch for the bird...how much is that? The launch cost could easily be moved into the next Discovery mission and that would help accelerate the following mission. |
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Jan 24 2006, 01:28 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
QUOTE (gpurcell @ Jan 23 2006, 06:36 AM) Bruce, to me the question really is whether the NASA managers for DAWN feel any confidence that the contractor running the project can even tell them what the overrun is going to me to complete the project. I can't speak to the technical side of it, but it is pretty clear the budgeting assumptions used in the proposal were way ouf of whack with reality. This will be one to watch: Clearly, with a nearly-completed craft, Dawn represents a better bang for the (additional) buck than starting some new mission from scratch. But this sends out the bad message that haunts bureaucracies: What will stop the next Discovery proposals from targeting a science/dollar value that matches the Dawn standard (spend all you're allowed, then a little more). A sadistically punitive answer is to give the spacecraft to some other PIs to fly. That gets the mission in the air for not much (additional) money, but doesn't give anyone an incentive to try to duplicate this scenario in future Discovery proposals. But taking the craft from the rightful owners, if legal (?), may introduce operational showstoppers, apart from being somewhat loathsome ethically. This isn't Stalin's space program... At the same time, giving the original team extra money is problematic. If the project is being, in any sense, re-funded, I would just as soon see some of the downscoped original goals being reinstated... |
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