[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Funding Ceases In 2015 Under NASA Budget Request

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.universetoday.com/110219/mars-rover-opportunity-funding-ceases-in-2015-under-nasa-budget-request/ 

Mars Rover Opportunity Funding Ceases In 2015 Under NASA Budget Request
by Elizabeth Howell 
Universe Today

NASA's preliminary (read: not finalized) budget for 2015 would eliminate 
funding for the long-running Opportunity rover mission that's discovered 
extensive evidence of past water on Mars in the past decade.

While the agency's baseline budget request shows no funding for the long-running 
Mars mission past 2015, NASA added that Opportunity is among several missions 
that could receive extension money if extra funds become available. Also, 
the budget needs to be approved by Congress before anything is set in 
stone.

Here's where Opportunity could get funding, under the current structure: 
The White House has proposed a $56 billion "Opportunity, Growth and Security 
Initiative" across the U.S. government that would surpass the budgetary 
spending limit that Congress set in December. (Some news reports indicate 
the Republicans are not on board with this, but it's early yet.)

NASA, meanwhile, is undertaking a regular review of several Mars programs 
(among others) to see which ones give the best return for funding. "The 
missions to be reviewed include MSL [Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity], 
MRO [Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter], Opportunity, Odyssey and Mars Express," 
NASA stated. But as the table below shows, right now Opportunity has no 
funding in fiscal 2015, while the other missions do. (Note that funding 
would cease for Odyssey in 2017 under this plan.)


[Table]
NASA's budget request for fiscal 2015 eliminates funding for the Mars 
Exploration Rover Opportunity in 2015. Click for a larger version. Credit: 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration FY 2015 President's Budget 
Request Summary

Here's what NASA's budget request says about the extended funding:

"Planetary Science Extended Mission Funding: Provide an additional $35.0 
million to increase support for extended missions prioritized in the upcoming 
2014 Senior Review. The Budget provides funding for high priority extended 
missions such as Cassini and Curiosity. However, it does not provide funding 
to continue all missions that are likely to be highly rated in Senior 
Review. The funding augmentation would allow robust funding for all extended 
missions that are highly ranked by the 2014 Senior Review, enabling high 
science return at relatively low cost, instead of potentially terminating 
up to two missions or reducing science across many or all of them."

"On Twitter, the Planetary Society's Casey Dreier, its director of advocacy, 
wrote a few tweets about the budget last night, including one addressing 
Opportunity. As expected, MER Opportunity has no funding as of Oct 1st, 
unless supplemental funding is added," he said, adding that a bright spot 
is that the Curiosity mission has funding through fiscal 2019 (which is 
as far as the numbers go in the budget request.)

Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 and has rolled more than 24 
miles (38 kilometers) in the years since, long outliving its twin Spirit 
(who ceased communications in 2010). Universe Today's Ken Kremer recently 
covered the contributions these rovers made to science in the past 10 
years.

The last Opportunity update on March 4 described how controllers deliberately 
crushed a rock under the rover's wheels as it explored Endeavor Crater, 
where Opportunity has been trundling along since 2011.

On an unrelated note, NASA announced today (March 11) that the Mars Reconnaissance 
Orbiter went into safe mode "after an unscheduled swap from one main computer 
to another", but the spacecraft is expected to be working normally in 
a few days. (MRO has been through several safe mode incidents over the 
years, including several times in 2009.)