rumors abound...

[jay]

Apparently the Exploration office wants one of each mission type to be studied for the secondary payload... one impactor, one comms orbiter, one science orbiter, one lander. Delays are due to briefing Griffin (NASA Administrator) on the final selections, plus the usual last-minute politicking. Rumor also has it that GSFC has the communications orbiter nod (they were apparently celebrating yesterday), JPL has the impactor, and no one knows who has the approved science orbiter idea. There were apparently two competitive lander proposals, ours and one from GSFC, both with Raytheon (but run separately). GSFC getting the comms orbiter would tend to then improve our odds of getting the lander nod. At this point, no word is expected before the weekend, so I'm cancelling my Tucson reservations, and any kickoff gathering would be here early next week. So I'll push back my Idaho trip as late as possible on Monday, just in case...

Comments

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I thought they'd just cancelled a comms orbiter...