24-March-2008, 11:46 PM
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Vulcan Moderator
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Greenbelt, MD
Posts: 24,320
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Grrr...
Cut forces NASA to park a Mars rover
Quote:
Scientists plan to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and limit the activities of the other robot to fulfill a NASA order to cut $4 million from the program's budget, mission team members said Monday.
The news comes amid belt-tightening at NASA headquarters, which is under pressure to juggle Mars exploration and projects to study the rest of the solar system.
The solar-powered rovers Spirit and Opportunity have dazzled scientists and the public with findings of geologic evidence that water once flowed at or near the surface of Mars long ago.
Both rovers were originally planned for three-month missions at a cost of $820 million, but are now in their fourth year of exploration. It costs NASA about $20 million annually to keep the rovers running.
The Mars rovers program received its latest extension, $22 million, in fiscal year 2008 and has used up half money. The latest directive from NASA to cut $4 million of the remaining funds means Spirit will be forced into hibernation in the coming weeks, said principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University.
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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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