Delays In Mars Mission Will Ripple Across Space Science

摘要

Faced with mounting technical glitches, last week NASA decided to delay its Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) for at least 2 years. That means the spacecraft will not get off the ground before fall 2011. The new date is a major disappointment for researchers eager to learn whether Mars ever supported microbial life. But what worries them even more is the price that other planetary missions may have to pay to free up the additional $400 million that a delayed MSL will cost NASA. The troubles surrounding the sophisticated lab, twice as long and three times as heavy as the rovers that have explored Mars since 2004, are part of a growing crisis that President-elect Barack Obama will inherit in January. NASA's science program needs more money for a host of planned spacecraft. But so do the agency's efforts to complete the space station, retire the space shuttle, and build a new launcher to send humans to the moon. Obama pledged during his campaign to back a new generation of science missions as well as the new launcher, which would add billions to NASA's current $18 billion annual budget.