NASA holds off on budget cuts to Mars rover program

[n2doc]

An order to trim $16 million from the popular missions is withdrawn. But even bigger reductions might be called for later.
By John Johnson Jr., Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 26, 2008
NASA rescinded a directive Tuesday that would have forced millions of dollars in cuts from the popular Mars rover program, saying the budget reductions had not been cleared with NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin.

James Green, head of NASA's Planetary Science Division, last week sent a private communication to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ordering $16 million in cuts to the Mars program, including $4 million in rover operations this year. If those cuts had been implemented, they would have required that at least one of the rovers, probably Spirit, be put in a state of hibernation.

Since Spirit is already curtailing operations for the Martian winter, the order was not expected to pose a major threat to the rover program. But, more ominously, Green's letter, addressed to Fuk Li, head of JPL's Mars Exploration Program, warned that larger cuts might be necessary later.

Green said an additional $8 million might be cut from the rover program and $8 million from the Mars Odyssey mission. The Odyssey has been mapping Mars' surface since 2001.

Green's letter said the cuts were necessary to offset cost overruns in the Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled to launch in 2009. The MSL is a much bigger rover than Spirit or Opportunity, and is packed with sophisticated instruments to determine the planet's habitability. The rover will be landed on Mars with a sky crane spacecraft that will lower it on ropes.

The order sent a shudder through the rover operating office at JPL in La Cañada Flintridge and through the wider science community that views the rovers as one of NASA's most glittering successes during a time when the manned exploration program has suffered tragedy and delay.

In a statement Tuesday, Griffin said no Mars rover operations would "be suspended or shut down. This means that the Mars Exploration Program will not take any action as a result of the initial letter."

more:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-rovers26mar26,0,234887.story

[RT Atlanta]

1. Good news

I am glad to hear this - I was really disappointed in the reading about the cuts in yesterday's paper. We (being the collective scientific body) have these two wonderfully productive machines on Mars, in good working order, and to shut one down (just 'cause) makes no real sense to me.

[shireen]

2. hmmmm, and today Alan Stern resigned. Interesting coincidence

March 26, 2008

Bob Jacobs/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600/1726
[e-mail], [e-mail]

Edward Campion
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0697
[e-mail]

RELEASE: 08-088

NASA ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCES SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE LEADERSHIP CHANGES

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin issued the
following statement Wednesday regarding the announcement that Dr. S.
Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission
Directorate, has decided to leave the agency.

"Alan has rendered invaluable service to NASA as the Principal
Investigator for the Pluto/New Horizons mission, as a member of the
NASA Advisory Council, and as the associate administrator of the
Science Mission Directorate. While I deeply regret his decision to
leave NASA, I understand his reasons for doing so, and wish him all
the best in his future endeavors."

Griffin also announced that Dr. Edward J. Weiler, director of NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., will serve as interim
associate administrator.

Weiler was appointed to Goddard in August 2004. Previously, he had
served as the associate administrator for the agency's Space Science
Enterprise from 1998 to 2004.

Prior to his selection as associate administrator, Weiler served as
the director of the Astronomical Search for Origins Program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. He also served as the chief scientist for
the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 until 1998. Weiler joined
Headquarters in 1978 as a staff scientist and was promoted to the
chief of the Ultraviolet/Visible and Gravitational Astrophysics
Division in 1979.

"Though we regret Alan's departure, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Ed
Weiler back to NASA HQ once again to assume the mantle of SMD
leadership. With his experienced guidance, science at NASA will
continue to thrive," said Griffin.

A native of Chicago, Weiler earned his doctorate in Astrophysics from
Northwestern University in 1976.

For more information about NASA and its science programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov