Space agency's 2020 vision shortsighted, say Berkeley astronomers

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An unmanned mission to Saturn recently found evidence of liquid water on one of its moons proof says Berkeley planet-hunter Geoffrey Marcy of the worth of the kinds of low-cost high-yield research now threatened by NASA budget cuts. (Image courtesy ...
An unmanned mission to Saturn recently found evidence of liquid water on one of its moons — proof, says Berkeley planet-hunter Geoffrey Marcy, of the worth of the kinds of low-cost, high-yield research now threatened by NASA budget cuts. (Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

"Returning to the moon is an important step for our space program," declared President Bush in January 2005, announcing his intention to "give NASA a new focus and vision for exploration" by putting Americans back on the moon by 2020, followed by the first manned mission to Mars. Months later, NASA's incoming administrator, Michael Griffin, vowed that despite the staggering cost of this bold vision — conservatively estimated at over $100 billion — not "one thin dime" would come out of his agency's budget for unmanned space science.


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All News summaries for April 06, 2006

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