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Science 14 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5784, p. 157
DOI: 10.1126/science.313.5784.157c
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ScienceScope

Figure 1
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is officially off the chopping block. Space agency chief Michael Griffin told scientists at a Washington, D.C., meeting on 6 July that the project would go forward, despite cost overruns and delays in engineering an aircraft and its accompanying telescope. Those troubles led Griffin to not fund SOFIA in the agency's 2007 budget request released in February (Science, 23 June, p. 1729). But researchers in both the United States and Germany--a major partner on the project--objected strongly. Griffin also said that the Space Interferometry Mission, a complex effort to study extrasolar planets slated for the next decade, would be "refocused." NASA spokespeople said they were not sure what that means, but some scientists expect the comment to effectively mark the mission's death knell.

CREDIT: JPL/NASA




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