Budget Reality Dooms GEMS
GEMS Team Appeals NASA Cancellation Decision, Space News
“The GEMS team appealed the cancellation of their mission June 5 at NASA headquarters and was expecting a decision as soon as June 6, GEMS principal investigator Jean Swank said. NASA decided last month to pull the plug on GEMS after independent cost estimates showed that the project was likely to bust a revised $135 million cost cap the agency imposed on spacecraft development in January.”
Marc’s note: A media teleconference is scheduled at noon EDT today by NASA to brief the media on their decision to cancel the agency’s Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer project. The panelist for the briefing is Paul Hertz, NASA’s Astrophysic’s Division Director.
Yet we will continue to pour money into JWST, beside which this is chump change.
And hasn’t JWST already exceeded anything remotely resembling a cap? Including the sort imposed by simple common sense?
The problem is that common sense is not very common anymore.
Amen to that.
Hiring astrophysicists to unravel the mysteries of the universe is fine, but only if they have mastered the prerequisite ability to balance a checkbook. The low ball culture has to be squished.
Yes, I agree. Or pick physicists with the brains to use good business-like managers.
These days, the missions with the largest budget overruns get rewarded.
unfortunately we’re just making things worse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/c…
Old Scientist…you got to get off the JWST bashing bandwagon (it’s getting old) and realize the Agency, OMB, and Congress made it a priority (whether you like it or not).