Dec 19 1995
From The Space Library
Daniel S. Goldin, head of the Nation's space agency, has won support in the White House for his philosophy of smaller, better, and less expensive spacecraft. A case in point is the early planning for a Pluto mission. Four years ago, engineers came up with a concept costing as much as $4 billion. After many redesigns they developed a mission, called Pluto Express, at an estimated cost of $400 million. Instead of packing many instruments into a single craft weighing several tons, engineers designed two lightweight craft weighing as little as 300 pounds each. In the proposed mission, the craft would be launched separately, perhaps by Russian Proton rockets, on "fast" trajectories. They should be able to reach Pluto in 6 to 8 years, compared to Voyager 2's travel time of 12 years to distant Neptune.
The Discovery program of small spacecraft is already a start in the direction of lower-cost flights. The large, ultimately unsuccessful Mars Observer was launched three years ago on a Titan 3 rocket costing $350 million. But craft the size now being planned could be launched with less powerful Delta rockets costing $60 million or less. (NASA Release 95-195; NY Times, Dec 19/95; Space News, Nov 27/95)
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