AS THE Mars rover Spirit prepares to sleep for the Martian winter, its future hangs in the balance.
Last week, NASA headquarters told the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which manages the Mars rovers, that it faces a number of budget cuts. The aim is to offset huge cost overruns in the Mars Science Laboratory, the next-generation rover due for launch next year.
Among the cuts is a 40 per cent reduction in the $20 million annual budget for the rover programme. The Mars Exploration team at JPL have concluded that would mean shutting a rover down 鈥� probably Spirit. 鈥淚鈥檒l tell you flat out, we cannot run both rovers on $12 million a year,鈥� says principal investigator Steve Squyres. 鈥淲e have cut our budget to as lean as it can get.鈥�
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NASA HQ says it will not force JPL to lose a rover. 鈥淭he budget problem won鈥檛 go away, and they still have to come back to us with recommendations,鈥� says spokesman Dwayne Brown. 鈥淏ut if shutting down a rover is on that list, we have to come up with something else.鈥�
Mars Rovers 鈥� Mars is full of surprises, learn more in our continually updated .
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