Re: Troubles parallel ambitions in NASA Mars project

[Martin Brown <|||newspam|||@nezumi.demon.co.uk>]

On Apr 23, 11:28 am, "Bill Forster"
<bill.fors...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "Martin Brown" <|||newspam...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > And if it is declared "ready" will it be a management decision for PR
> > reasons like the ill fated Challenger disaster or a genuine "engineers
> > ready to launch" with the hardware all fit for purpose.
>
> Engineers will have the final say, as they have done since the Mars 98 
> failures
> (e.g. they will not be driven by schedule).
>
> > I would really like to see the thing work, but it is setting itself up
> > for failure at present
>
> It isn't setting itself up for failure.  No corners have been cut on the 
> engineering
> side; NASA learned the folly of corner-cutting on MPL.

I would so like to believe that.

> > (and by robbing other NASA science projects of funds in the process it will
> > compromise them too).
>
> Which projects are those?  In any case, the overruns are apparently being
> limited to the Mars program itself.

Unclear if enough can be saved from within the Mars program to cover
this size of overrun. And some of the first measures proposed were
quickly rescinded with an apparently out of the blue resignation last
month of Alan Stern (which could be coincidence).

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080326/full/news.2008.694.html

Regards,
Martin Brown