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Planetary Scientists Aghast As NASA Abandons Pluto Mission
Cameron Park - August 21, 2000 Astronomers have expressed their major concerns over the NASA-directed work stoppage for the Pluto-Kuiper Express Mission (PKE). The American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) committee has urged that NASA and the US Congress to find a way to fund this important mission, but not at the expense of other equally important planetary missions or its basic research and analysis programs. A stop-work order was issued last week by NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, Dr. Edward Weiler. The stated reason was ballooning costs for the entire Outer Planets set of missions at JPL (which also includes the Europa Orbiter and Solar Probe), due largely to increased costs for the launch vehicle and RTGs. The DPS committee noted that if work on PKE is not resumed before the end of calendar year 2000, it is likely that the 2004 launch opportunity will be lost, and the earliest arrival date would slip by at least 7 years (from 2012 to 2019 or beyond). Pluto is the only planet not yet explored by spacecraft and is therefore of great interest and importance to the planetary science community. It is also moving rapidly outward from the Sun from its perihelion passage in the early 1990s, and if this mission is delayed beyond the 2004 launch, the opportunity to study the tenuous Pluto atmosphere may be lost for centuries. The DPS, with a membership of 1225, is the world's largest organization of professional scientists devoted to exploring the planets and other bodies of the solar system. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
NASA/TRW/Smithsonian Chandra X-ray Observatory Team Extends "Honors List" with 2000 AIAA Space Systems Award
Manchester - August 10, 2000A team of scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, TRW and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), Cambridge, Mass. has been selected by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to receive the organization's 2000 Space Systems Award for successfully developing, producing, launching and operating NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the world's most capable X-ray observatory. |
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