Pluto Mission Gets A Boost With Joint House Support

RIM WORLDS

"The strong support for space exploration in the Congress is very welcome, especially at a time when there are so many other budget pressures," said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society. He praised the House and Senate conferees noting that they also restored full funding to the Mars program which had been threatened with budget cuts.

Washington - Nov 8, 2001
The U.S. House and Senate conference committee acting on the fiscal year 2002 NASA appropriations have approved $30 million funding for development of the Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission, despite opposition by the Bush Administration. They specifically directed that "funds provided should be used to initiate appropriate spacecraft and science instrument development as well as launch vehicle procurement," and that NASA proceed with selection of a team to develop the mission.

"This is a victory for public interest," said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society. "The people let Congress know that they want NASA to explore Pluto -- the only remaining unexplored planet in our solar system -- and Congress responded."

The Society has been leading a grass-roots effort to convince Congress to restore the mission to the NASA budget after the Bush Administration proposed eliminating it.

"The strong support for space exploration in the Congress is very welcome, especially at a time when there are so many other budget pressures," Friedman added. He praised the House and Senate conferees noting that they also restored full funding to the Mars program which had been threatened with budget cuts.

If Congress had not restored the funding, the opportunity for reaching the last unvisited planet in our solar system would have been lost for a generation. Additionally, the chance of seeing its atmosphere before it froze and condensed would have been lost for more than a century.

The funding, and launch vehicle constraints, probably mean that the mission to Pluto cannot launch until 2006 -- two years later than had been hoped. 2006 is the last launch opportunity for more than a decade to utilize a Jupiter gravity assist -- where the spacecraft would get a boost from Jupiter -- to reach Pluto. Mission times, depending on the launch vehicle selected, will be from 10-12 years.

The Administration is now faced with the choice of putting Pluto in its proposed fiscal year 2003 budget, or risking another fight with Congress next year. The Pluto mission was placed by Congress in the Outer Planets line item, which also includes a Europa orbiter mission. The Europa mission would be launched later than a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission, but arrive earlier at its destination.

SPACE SCIENCE

Scientists and Engineers Complete NASA-Funded Phase A Study Of Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission

Boulder - September 27, 2001
A team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) has just completed a NASA-funded, "Phase A" design study for a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.