Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut Options

[Ryan]

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/

[nprev]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, O Poet Laureate! Certainly in this community sanity and unity will prevail; I do cringe a bit at the thought of what others might be doing even as we speak, though...

Brellis, I hear ya; that's actually not the option I had in mind (but, gotta tell ya, at this point wouldn't mind seeing the MERs and Odyssey sponsored by Google, though never renamed. Hell, $8M is like the price of sixteen Super Bowl ads, maybe less!) What I was thinking of was finding other Federal funding that could be reapportioned.

Again, NASA's in a bit of a spot for this sort of thing because it's administratively not affiliated with any other agencies with lateral disbursing authority for operations & maintenance funding (AKA 3400 money), AFAIK. Still, it seems that some sort of arrangement should be possible, and I sure hope that any such options are being thoroughly explored.

[brellis]

A while back I wondered if due to budget constraints, operators would be inclined to attempt ever more suicidal stunts with their maneuvers, knowing that there would be no funding for further operations. How dangerous is hibernation? At what point would it be worth it purely for budgetary reasons to test the navigational limits of Spirit's abilities, as opposed to putting the baby to sleep and risking further budget cuts?

However this plays out, it is a great measure of success for the MER missions that the rovers have survived so far beyond expectations.

[nprev]

However this plays out, it is a great measure of success for the MER missions that the rovers have survived so far beyond expectations.

Truer words were never spoken. Gotta quote Doug as well, though: "Not like this. Please not like this."

...till they fall off!!!!!!!

[laurele]

Truer words were never spoken. Gotta quote Doug as well, though: "Not like this. Please not like this."

...till they fall off!!!!!!!

The rovers in so many ways represent the best of what the US has to offer--leadership in exploration, willingness to take risks in exploring new frontiers for the sake of knowledge, an incentive for young people and those of all ages to once again become excited about the space program. It would be a crying shame to end a program that has been so successful and so inspirational in a day and age when cynicism too often trumps idealism.

If developments call for these cuts to go forward, there should be an organized effort to get them reversed, through letters from people on sites like this as well as astronomy clubs, schools, etc. It's just my opinion, but some members of Congress may not be that familiar with the rovers' mission and history and may be willing to take a second look at reinstating the funding once they are familiarized with their amazing accomplishments.