Next-Gen Mars Rover In Danger of Cancellation 210
OriginalArlen writes "NASA's next-generation rover, the nuclear-powered, laser-equipped Mars Science Laboratory is reported to be at a serious risk of cancellation due to budget and schedule overruns, including non-delivery of vital parts by a subcontractor. Costs are running over $2B so far, and the already thin schedule of Mars missions planned for the next decade — with budget ring-fenced for an outer-planets flagship mission — is in danger of further cuts."
Nuclear Powered? Laser Armed? (Score:3, Funny)
Anyone else thinking that this is just a smokescreen to develop the most awesomest Battlebot ever?
Re:Love space, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, biblical?
Ray: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor... real Wrath-of-God-type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies.
Venkman: Rivers and seas boiling!
Egon: 40 years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanos.
Winston:The dead rising from the grave!
Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together... mass hysteria!
Not to late to save it (Score:4, Funny)
Couldn't it just be repurposed to fight terrorists?
Re:Not to late to save it (Score:1, Funny)
They tried that. However, NASA Funding Engineers realized that if they were to pitch this project as a way to fight space terrorism then the project would be flooded with so much cash that the engineers would actually, literally drown in cash.
Interestingly they also considered pushing it as "a way to fight space terrorism that hardly works at all, it will be very bad at fighting space terrorism but that's what it is for". It turns out that this actually increased the drowning problem several fold.
Weird.
Re:Love space, but... (Score:1, Funny)
You must be new here.
Re:Love space, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:700 billion (Score:3, Funny)
Well, that's only $350 *illion difference, so it sounds like they're paying most of the bailout with a Mars rover. Sounds reasonable.