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Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut
Ryan
post Mar 24 2008, 09:11 PM
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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/
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elakdawalla
post Mar 25 2008, 05:14 AM
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Here's a question I don't know the answer to: Say Spirit can no longer rove, but has enough power to continue some observations, in particular observations of weather phenomena like sky opacity and stuff like that. How valuable is it for the understanding of Mars' weather to have one continuous set of measurements from one point on the ground indefinitely? Spirit's not a real "weather station" -- it can't measure wind speed or direction or other properties of the air, at least not directly; but it can continue to gather records relevant to weather. Is having that one limited set of records from that one point worth spending a few to 10 million dollars over the course of a year? Or is the type of data that Spirit can gather so limited that gathering another year or two's worth wouldn't provide much further incremental benefit to Mars climatologists?

Mike, since you're the representative of the orbital community in this discussion, can you comment on what continuing science campaigns are being performed by Odyssey? I don't know much more to say about specifically why Odyssey needs to continue other than "More data good. No more data bad." And I'm sure there are much more intelligent things that can be said than that.

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edstrick
post Mar 25 2008, 06:31 AM
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"...Spirit's not a real "weather station" -- it can't measure wind speed or direction or other properties of the air, at least not directly; but it can continue to gather records relevant to weather...."

What is the status of the MiniTES?... I thought that was essentially inoperative (unable to return useful science) on both landers due to dust contamination. But, I've seen that it's doing some routine observations on Spirit.

The rovers can (with MiniTES, if it's working) get thermal profiles of the lower atmosphere and see convective turbulence due to daytime heating, etc. They can also monitor atmospheric opacity, sky color and brightness, and clouds. The problem is how much this is worth compared with other science. There ought to be Viking-2 Winter and Viking-1 "Eternal Mission" type modes of repetitive cycle, fully automatic operation: Collect data for a week, dump it in a single communications session, whether anybody's listening or not. Should be.....

Slinted's comments and list of suggestions a few posts back are very much the sort of thing that can be automated. VL-1 did that sort of thing, a few targets re-imaged at intervals, a s....l....o....w....l....y built up panorama, etc. (note that the viking landers were extremely data volume limited on a direct link to Earth, much as the Rovers are now.
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ustrax
post Mar 25 2008, 11:36 AM
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So one goes out for the Easter and when one returns this is the scenary? blink.gif
No one messes with our babies... mad.gif


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Posts in this topic
- Ryan   Odyssey and MER Budgets Cut   Mar 24 2008, 09:11 PM
- - brellis   Sorry to hear about it. There was at one point a ...   Mar 24 2008, 09:57 PM
- - djellison   I'm writing emails to people to see what, if a...   Mar 24 2008, 11:07 PM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (djellison @ Mar 24 2008, 03:07 PM)...   Mar 25 2008, 02:39 AM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 24 2008, 06:39 PM...   Mar 25 2008, 04:18 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 24 2008, 06:39 PM...   Mar 25 2008, 04:20 AM
||- - edstrick   "... Magellan obviously could have provided S...   Mar 25 2008, 06:25 AM
|- - slinted   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 24 2008, 06:39 PM...   Mar 25 2008, 05:11 AM
- - nprev   I'm sure Emily's aware; hopefully, TPS wil...   Mar 24 2008, 11:28 PM
- - Stu   Just got in from work to find this news. Unbelieva...   Mar 24 2008, 11:52 PM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (Stu @ Mar 24 2008, 03:52 PM) Obvio...   Mar 25 2008, 12:16 AM
- - djellison   Yup - I'd ask people to hang tight from the ra...   Mar 24 2008, 11:57 PM
- - nprev   Agreed. There are a lot of systemic factors to con...   Mar 25 2008, 12:59 AM
|- - brellis   QUOTE (nprev @ Mar 24 2008, 05:59 PM) I...   Mar 25 2008, 01:12 AM
||- - Stu   QUOTE (brellis @ Mar 25 2008, 01:12 AM) h...   Mar 25 2008, 08:25 AM
|- - Stu   QUOTE (nprev @ Mar 25 2008, 12:59 AM) apo...   Mar 25 2008, 01:27 AM
- - nprev   Thanks for the words of encouragement, O Poet Laur...   Mar 25 2008, 01:46 AM
|- - brellis   A while back I wondered if due to budget constrain...   Mar 25 2008, 02:15 AM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (brellis @ Mar 24 2008, 07:15 PM) H...   Mar 25 2008, 02:25 AM
|- - laurele   QUOTE (nprev @ Mar 24 2008, 10:25 PM) Tru...   Mar 25 2008, 04:12 AM
- - merman   Hi all, It is important for everyone to realize t...   Mar 25 2008, 02:26 AM
|- - Stu   QUOTE (merman @ Mar 25 2008, 02:26 AM) St...   Mar 25 2008, 08:32 AM
|- - Greg Hullender   QUOTE (Stu @ Mar 25 2008, 12:32 AM) Quest...   Mar 25 2008, 03:09 PM
- - Astro0   This has hit the wider media already... http://sci...   Mar 25 2008, 02:44 AM
- - Aussie   I am not sure that outrage is warranted. My under...   Mar 25 2008, 03:02 AM
- - Greg Hullender   Well, I wrote my congressman, BUT it already looks...   Mar 25 2008, 03:40 AM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Mar 24 2008, 07:4...   Mar 25 2008, 03:48 AM
- - mchan   Click on Astro's link to CNN above.   Mar 25 2008, 04:00 AM
- - nprev   Ah...thanks, mchan. "Mixed signals"...y...   Mar 25 2008, 04:06 AM
- - mcaplinger   I would argue that Odyssey is far more likely to y...   Mar 25 2008, 05:05 AM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 25 2008, 05:05 AM...   Mar 25 2008, 08:51 AM
||- - tedstryk   The seemingly odd NASA response about not being w...   Mar 25 2008, 09:50 AM
|- - nprev   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 24 2008, 10:05 PM...   Mar 25 2008, 12:26 PM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (nprev @ Mar 25 2008, 04:26 AM) Mor...   Mar 25 2008, 05:11 PM
|- - elakdawalla   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Mar 25 2008, 09:11 AM...   Mar 25 2008, 05:39 PM
- - elakdawalla   Here's a question I don't know the answer ...   Mar 25 2008, 05:14 AM
|- - JRehling   In what is serendipitous timing, a piece on Odysse...   Mar 25 2008, 05:49 AM
|- - edstrick   "...Spirit's not a real "weather sta...   Mar 25 2008, 06:31 AM
||- - ustrax   So one goes out for the Easter and when one return...   Mar 25 2008, 11:36 AM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Mar 24 2008, 09:14 P...   Mar 25 2008, 04:15 PM
- - PhilCo126   Indeed lots of media intrest: NASA budget cut thre...   Mar 25 2008, 11:58 AM
- - Adam   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080324/ap_on_...5kyVt...   Mar 25 2008, 12:22 PM
- - climber   I'd thought that Nasa (or whoever it is) would...   Mar 25 2008, 01:49 PM
|- - ustrax   Guys, just got the info that it seems like the sit...   Mar 25 2008, 02:04 PM
- - elakdawalla   "in this discussion," Mike, "in thi...   Mar 25 2008, 05:02 PM
|- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Mar 25 2008, 09:02 A...   Mar 25 2008, 05:12 PM
|- - Of counsel   Breaking news? NASA: Mars rovers won't be cut...   Mar 25 2008, 05:44 PM
||- - PaulM   I read an interview with Steve Squyres (it might h...   Mar 25 2008, 06:18 PM
||- - JRehling   Phoenix will eventually be encased with seasonal p...   Mar 25 2008, 06:23 PM
|- - brellis   Edit: just read your link, Phil - what a relief...   Mar 25 2008, 07:02 PM
- - bmerrow   The directive was rescinded an hour ago - there wi...   Mar 25 2008, 06:00 PM
|- - imipak   QUOTE (bmerrow @ Mar 25 2008, 06:00 PM) T...   Mar 25 2008, 06:11 PM
|- - JRehling   If you go to Google news and search for "Mars...   Mar 25 2008, 06:12 PM
- - PhilCo126   http://www.physorg.com/news125666692.html   Mar 25 2008, 06:44 PM
- - Astro0   This reprieve is good news, but let's keep a v...   Mar 26 2008, 01:05 AM
|- - merman   Thank you, everyone, for your support and help wit...   Mar 26 2008, 02:22 PM
- - vjkane   The money restored to MER and Odyssey will have to...   Mar 26 2008, 02:26 AM
|- - MahFL   Good news. Always a stupid idea turning off workin...   Mar 26 2008, 12:14 PM
|- - tedstryk   As was pointed out earlier, the kind of money we a...   Mar 26 2008, 01:04 PM
- - Stu   Not wanting to kick a gift horse in the mouth and ...   Mar 26 2008, 01:18 PM
|- - tedstryk   Like I have said, at the LPSC, there was a great t...   Mar 26 2008, 01:44 PM
- - elakdawalla   My understanding from some Odyssey folks is that t...   Mar 26 2008, 03:45 PM
- - Mariner9   I agree that the debates have barely begun. Th...   Mar 26 2008, 06:04 PM
- - djellison   I've moved two posts that are about a broader ...   Mar 26 2008, 06:11 PM
- - djellison   Having done that - here's my thoughts. Fundin...   Mar 26 2008, 06:33 PM
|- - JRehling   The problem with a scarcity of resources is that i...   Mar 28 2008, 09:07 PM
- - blairf   Following the resource allocation question to a na...   Mar 26 2008, 08:17 PM
- - vjkane   I am deeply, deeply saddened by Alan's departu...   Mar 26 2008, 09:07 PM
- - Mariner9   But there is a decadal study in the planetary worl...   Mar 26 2008, 10:58 PM
|- - vjkane   QUOTE (Mariner9 @ Mar 26 2008, 10:58 PM) ...   Mar 26 2008, 11:21 PM
- - djellison   Good words at NW "While I have not agreed wi...   Mar 28 2008, 08:04 PM
- - gpurcell   Unfortunately, there is no real solution to the bu...   Mar 28 2008, 10:12 PM
- - vjkane   The process for prioritizing planetary missions re...   Mar 28 2008, 11:19 PM
- - Stu   Good news, I think...   Jun 13 2008, 10:29 PM
- - jmjawors   That's GREAT news! Of course, it'll s...   Jun 13 2008, 10:37 PM
- - mike   Personally I think both Titan and Europa are inter...   Jun 15 2008, 09:32 PM


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