At NASA, Smaller Is Better Now : The space agency takes a cost-efficient approach
The $1.5-billion Galileo space probe is the best recent example of NASA’s continuing resurgence and its rejuvenated image of dependability. How ironic that it is also the best argument for the radical changes the space agency has in store for future exploration.
Yes, getting Galileo to Jupiter was a demonstration of dogged persistence and the old can-do attitude that brought the Apollo 13 astronauts safely back home in a damaged craft. But the following is also true. Galileo is an inordinately expensive, once-a-decade and years-long, Maalox-moment-style mission. Difficulty with any one of its complicated systems jeopardizes the entire project. Sure enough, Galileo’s main transmission antenna is inoperable. The jury-rigged backup, as Times science writer K.C. Cole puts it, is “not much faster than a skilled 19th century telegrapher using only dots and dashes” in sending data back to Earth.
So, the idea behind NASA’s “New Millennium Program” seems to make eminent good sense: more frequent missions with smaller and cheaper and disposable spacecraft that are still on the leading edge of technology. Also, they would be sent up in sufficient numbers (at the same time) to allow for the loss of some without jeopardizing an entire mission.
The Mars Pathfinder mission, unveiled last week at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, represents an intermediate step in this direction. Pathfinder’s assembly actually represents three spacecraft in one--a cruise stage, a tulip-shaped lander and its tiny Sojourner land rover. Launching is expected later this year, and the landing on the Martian surface will be cushioned by air bags.
The contrast between the old and the new here is telling. Two years ago, the $2-billion Mars Observer space probe was about to slip into orbit around the planet when it inexplicably disappeared into space, for good. The entire Mars Pathfinder mission is expected to cost about $200 million. Who can argue with that kind of efficiency?
