[meteorite-list] NASA's Dawn Mission Cancellation Under Review

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Mar 16 18:08:43 2006
Message-ID: <200603162041.k2GKfAw00128_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://space.com/news/060316_dawn_mission.html

NASA's Dawn Mission Cancellation Under Review
By Leonard David
space.com
16 March 2006

HOUSTON, Texas - NASA is taking another look at the decision to cancel
the Dawn mission that would explore two large asteroids in the solar
system.

The space agency officially killed the mission earlier this
month, citing an independent assessment that flagged over two dozen
major issues in need of resolution before Dawn was ready to go.

The abandonment of the mission was also due to its increased cost growth
of 20 percent over Dawn's confirmation cost cap of $373 million, as well
as a 14-month or more delay in launching the spacecraft, NASA officials
said at the time.

The death of Dawn has stirred up anger in scientific circles, both in
the United States and abroad - a fact that surfaced here earlier this
week at the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC).

Under review

When pressed by scientists to clarify whether or not the Dawn mission
has been restored, NASA Associate Administrator for Science, Mary
Cleave, said NASA is responsive to Congressional language that dictates
"if we get to a certain percentage cost overrun we have to review a
project. And if it gets to another percentage Congress will zero the
money going in and we will be in this limbo with no money going in."

Another reply regarding the status of Dawn came from Andrew Dantzler,
director of NASA's solar system division in Washington, D.C.

"I really can't get into the details on Dawn," Dantzler told the LPSC
gathering, but noted that the cancellation "is under review by our
management." Because of that fact, he added, it would not be appropriate
to get into specifics.

The cost to stand down Dawn was slated
not to be more than $5 million dollars and hasn't been, Dantzler said.
"Continuing Dawn is significantly more," he said.

Dantzler said that termination of a mission or a budget cut "is a very
serious issue," with NASA doing everything it can not do that.

In terms of the technical problems of Dawn, Dantzler said that "it would
not be wise to go into technical detail."

International ire

While the findings of a new review are yet to play out, NASA's
cancellation of Dawn in the first place incensed scientists, not only
those in the U.S. but in other countries taking part in the mission.

"It's totally unacceptable what's happening now," said Gerhard Neukum,
professor of planetary sciences at Freie Universit?t Berlin in Germany
and a member of the Dawn team.

There is international involvement in Dawn, Neukum pointed out. "NASA
has responsibility to their cooperation partners first and foremost
before they go to the last resort of canceling a mission," he told
SPACE.com.

"It's absolutely ridiculous what NASA is doing," Neukum said, "because
most of the money has been spent."

Neukum noted that "the mission is practically ready to go. There are a
few technical problems that are overstated on NASA's side. It's not a
well-based, neutral review in my opinion."

"We didn't know what was going on," Neukum said. "If there is
cost-overrun you just can't go on," he admitted, but added: "You have to
review it and see where it comes from and then try to remedy things. You
find the cause and possibly save the mission. That should be the first
goal."

The response from NASA officials here at the LPSC meeting concerning the
cancellation of Dawn seemed to Neukum as if they cancelled the mission
to free some money for other purposes.

"This is absolutely unacceptable what's going on there. It was
unilateral, without prior warning and no discussion," Neukum said. "I
know that there were some other technical problems, but no fundamental
ones. They all could be fixed," he explained.

On life-support

Dawn is under the rubric of NASA's econo-class Discovery program
It was selected in December 2001 to be developed on a fast-paced
schedule and at modest cost compared to so-called "flagship" missions.

Using ion propulsion, Dawn's objective has been to reach asteroids 4
Vesta in 2011 and 1 Ceres in 2015. By surveying those mini-worlds
up-close, scientists want to glean clues about the formation of the
solar system.

Dawn is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena,
California with Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Virginia
developing the spacecraft.

The mission was slated for liftoff in mid-June 2006, but late last year
was placed in "stand down" mode. Mounting technical issues and cost
growth in the project led to the stand down, with an independent
assessment team tagged with the duty to look into the problems.

The scuffle over Dawn was spotlighted by Jonathan Lunine, Professor of
Planetary Sciences and of Physics at the University of Arizona in Tucson
during a major talk at LPSC on the future of solar system exploration.

"Dawn -- which actually did get canceled but is now on some kind of
life-support - or there's some religious ceremony in which it's being
resurrected -- if it does go to two very large asteroids, Ceres and
Vesta, it is a very important mission."
Received on Thu 16 Mar 2006 03:41:10 PM PST