Thread

1. Imnimo · 1790020180 · focus · HN ↗

   I never really understood why you'd have Perseverance drill the cores and then just leave them on the ground for an underdefined future mission to retrieve.

   1. q_andrew · 1790020273 · focus · HN ↗

      Because the powers that be would have deemed a real plan as too expensive.

      1. petcat · 1790021077 · focus · HN ↗

         > would have deemed a real plan as too expensive

         Who are these "powers that be"? And do they have an infinite credit card? Could they really just do whatever they want and for some reason they choose not to?

         1. Sharlin · 1790023066 · focus · HN ↗

            The entity that has exclusive power over the US federal budget, and thus NASA budget, is called the US Congress. This is a standard arrangement in representative democracies.

            1. petcat · 1790023136 · focus · HN ↗

               Yes, and that Congress gave them $10 billion more than they were even asking for.

               1. Sharlin · 1790025032 · focus · HN ↗

                  Um, NASA doesn't ask anything from the Congress, they get no say. They did not request their budget to be halved. They advise the executive, and then the executive asks the Congress to halve their budget and cancel half the missions because, you know. Luckily, the Congress was not inclined to agree because NASA actually has a solid bipartisan support.

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