Mars Rovers Nearly Killed by Budget Cuts

After surviving tough conditions on the Red Planet, the twin rovers nearly get shut down by a shortage of cash

By Gregory Mone Posted 03.26.2008 at 9:01 am 3 Comments

Rover view NASA/JPL

It would have been pretty heartbreaking for space fans if Spirit and Opportunity, the twin Martian rovers, had survived on the Red Planet all these years, only to be shut down and lost for good due to budget cuts.

Apparently NASA sent a letter last week to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the lab that runs the rovers' program, specifying a $4 million cut. Scientists said this move would have forced them to put one rover into hibernation mode, and limit the duties of the other.

But now NASA has rescinded the letter, effectively acting as though it never was sent, and the rover program is back to normal. Still, this wasn't just an inane budget cut. NASA needs to find some extra cash because its new rover, the Mars Science Laboratory, is already $165 million over budget, and engineers need $20 million more to work out its final kinks.

Via Houston Chronicle

Previous Article: Miami Might Have New Spies in the Sky

Next Article: XCOR Unveils Suborbital Space Vehicle

3 Comments

link to this comment

Michael Lee

04/01/08 at 5:26 pm

Are you kidding me? My name is on one of the discs on Opportunity! At least NASA wised up and kept them alive, though. I know that Spirit made it to the plateau in time for it to recharge by Christmas, but I haven't heard anything since then. Is he back up and running yet?

link to this comment

tim416

04/03/08 at 12:57 pm

Typical, spend a few billion sending a robot to mars, than once it has proved itself. Cut the budget to the point where we can't even keep them in operation. The money has already been spent, if the robots arn't used to their fullest, it's an even bigger waste.

link to this comment

cloud2299

11/01/08 at 10:32 am

that's what the government does best...waste money. and large amounts of it. but there's nothing new about that is there? i'm just glad that the letter was rescinded. it would suck for both (or even one) probes to be shut down. that would be a lot of research opportunities lost just to save a few bucks.