European Officials: Cassini Participation is Guaranteed Payoff

摘要

European scientists say their participation in the Cassini-Huy-gens mission is almost certain to pay off no matter what happens to Europe's Huygens probe once it separates from the Cassini spacecraft. These officials describe the division of responsibility on the NASA-led mission as providing enough work for Europe to more than justify the investment of some 360 million euros ($432 million) that the European Space Agency (ESA) and several individual European governments spent on Huygens. NASA has estimated the total Cassini budget at $3.27 billion, including a European participation of $600 million including Huygens and the Italian Space Agency's contribution, a $160 million high-gain antenna for Cassini.