Solar Probe is back?

I just noticed that there's a fancy new website for the
Solar Probe mission:
http://solarprobe.gsfc.nasa.gov/

For some reason I was under the impression that it went
defunct when the Outer Planets / Solar Probe dealie just
kind of withered away. I guess if they're going to
bring back the Pluto probe and bring back the Europa
probe (with a vengeance!) they might as well bring back
the Solar Probe. Looks like it's not quite a sure thing
yet, but I think it's a great mission concept, here's
hoping.

Christopher M. Jones wrote:

For some reason I was under the impression that it went
defunct when the Outer Planets / Solar Probe dealie just
kind of withered away.

Actually, Solar Probe did die briefly when OP/SP imploded. However, the
solar science community lobbied hard and resurrected it, designating it
as the number one priority in situ U.S. solar mission goal. Note the new
sunshield design over the original iteration, which would have also
doubled as the probe's HGA.

For those who can remember all the way back to 1998, OP/SP was *capped*
at $750 million. For this price tag, NASA/Goldin said it could complete
three missions: Europa Orbiter (with a shuttle launch), Pluto-Kuiper
Express, and Solar Probe, the latter two being launched on EELV. And,
yes, there were those who said this was lunacy even back then when
"faster, better, cheaper" was at flood tide.

--


Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii

Alex R. Blackwell wrote:
Christopher M. Jones wrote:

For some reason I was under the impression that it went
defunct when the Outer Planets / Solar Probe dealie just
kind of withered away.


Actually, Solar Probe did die briefly when OP/SP imploded. However, the
solar science community lobbied hard and resurrected it, designating it
as the number one priority in situ U.S. solar mission goal. Note the new
sunshield design over the original iteration, which would have also
doubled as the probe's HGA.

Most excellent.


For those who can remember all the way back to 1998, OP/SP was *capped*
at $750 million. For this price tag, NASA/Goldin said it could complete
three missions: Europa Orbiter (with a shuttle launch), Pluto-Kuiper
Express, and Solar Probe, the latter two being launched on EELV. And,
yes, there were those who said this was lunacy even back then when
"faster, better, cheaper" was at flood tide.

Yes, that was lunacy. RTGs are actually rather expensive, and
OP/SP would have needed at least two for its various missions.
Launch vehicles are hardly cheap either. That doesn't leave
much left over to split three ways.

In article ,
Christopher M. Jones wrote:
For those who can remember all the way back to 1998, OP/SP was *capped*
at $750 million. For this price tag, NASA/Goldin said it could complete
three missions: Europa Orbiter (with a shuttle launch), Pluto-Kuiper
Express, and Solar Probe, the latter two being launched on EELV...

Yes, that was lunacy. RTGs are actually rather expensive, and
OP/SP would have needed at least two for its various missions.
Launch vehicles are hardly cheap either...

Such cost numbers traditionally *don't* include launch; that is considered
a separate budget item.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

Henry Spencer wrote:

Such cost numbers traditionally *don't* include launch; that is considered
a separate budget item.

In this case, the total cost of $750 million for OP/SP (viz., "[e]ach
individual mission costs about $250 million...") did include launch
costs, as crazy as that sounds. I've seen this in official NASA
documentation for OP/SP but the only online reference, elliptical though
it may be, is an old Space.com story at

http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...le_000501.html

--


Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii