Space scientists are scrambling to reverse a proposed budget cut that endangers NASA's mission to Pluto. The House of Representatives last week approved a $55 million reduction in the New Frontiers program--a hefty slice of the $130 million request. The program is designed to produce a string of solar system probes, beginning with a $500 million Pluto mission to be launched in 2006 or 2007 and arrive in 2015.
CREDIT: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Mission supporters fear that the cut would prevent planners from using favorable planetary alignments. It could also delay other missions, warns the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences. It is urging the Senate, which will take up NASA's budget next month, to resist the cut. A final decision won't come until the two bodies reconcile their spending bills late this year.
