In recent years there have been continual threats to JPL's annual budget of around $1.5 billion (of which Mars exploration is $300 million). President Obama this year wanted to cut JPL's budget by $300 million, although I think this was rejected by Congress. However, had these cuts gone through, it was quite likely that JPL would have lost many of the experienced personnel who make these Mars landings possible. Other ongoing missions would have lost funding as well.
It seems misguided that the administration would cut the highly successful JPL's budget by $300 million even as it lost $535 million building a shiny new manufacturing plant for the failed Solyndra, but that's our priorities these days.
Discussion on:
Top
Rated
Rated
All this expertise will be lost with cuts in JPL funding
Posted by zackers
26th Jun
Just
In
In
Not nuts
Posted by Edouin
29th Jun
Show:
+1
Vote
All this expertise will be lost with cuts in JPL funding
Posted by zackers
26th Jun
0
Votes
It will be OK...
It will be OK, if NASA doesn't mix their metric and English units (as they did on a previous mission)!
Posted by omb00900@...
26th Jun
0
Votes
Has NASA gone nuts?
"Or rather, the rovers were each encased by a tetrahedron of 24 airbags that absorbed the impact, then bounced and rolled to a halt. The airbag shell then deflated and the tetrahedral case blossomed open so that the cradled rover could roll onto the relatively unpolluted surface of Mars."
Having played some football during my long gone and misspent youth I discovered that a partially inflated football just doesn't bounce.
Could that be a simple as well as feasible solution?
Like in "only partially inflate the airbags!"
Having played some football during my long gone and misspent youth I discovered that a partially inflated football just doesn't bounce.
Could that be a simple as well as feasible solution?
Like in "only partially inflate the airbags!"
Posted by kwickset@...
26th Jun
0
Votes
Not nuts
@kwikset - Actually, NASA has already landed rovers on Mars using the 24 airbag landing system - quite successfully, unlike your football scenario. Got some good bounces if I recall...
Posted by Edouin
29th Jun