Budgetary Pressures Put the Heat on Planetary Science Mission Extensions

摘要

Faced with a shrinking budget, NASA's Planetary Science Division is instituting a strict new approval process for extended missions, and not even marquee probes such as the Cassini Saturn orbiter will be exempt from scrutiny, a senior agency official said. The multibillion-dollar Cassini orbiter, part of an international collaboration between NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, completed its primary mission in June 2008 but continues to return scientific data under an extended mission that is expected to cost $60 million in 2012 alone.