spacetoday.net: APS report criticizes NASA exploration plan

Posted: Tue, Nov 23, 2004, 8:09 AM ET (1309 GMT)
A report released Monday by the American Physical Society (APS) criticized NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, saying that the plan will drain money from more promising research efforts. The report concluded that while human exploration is worthwhile, and manned missions to Mars would produce more science than robotic missions, the cost for such missions would be so high as to make them uncompelling on scientific grounds alone. The report also complained that the total cost of the exploration program remains unknown, and that shifts in NASA funding have jeopardized a number of science missions. The report concluded that human exploration should occur as part of a balanced program, and that robotic missions can do much of the desired science at a fraction of the cost. The report was released just after Congress approved a $16.2-billion NASA budget for 2005 that effectively fully funds the exploration program, although the exact distribution of funding may depend on the cost of shuttle return-to-flight efforts.