yeah that's what I was pointing at above too. it's in perpetual "SRR this fiscal year" mode without ever having a shot of getting to any serious non-advocate review phase.However, work is being put in, and give it a decade or two and a serious mission proposal for SMD might materialize out of this
This is not a real mission.
My suspicion is that this is primarily a budget thing. HEOMD has people that do not have specific project assignments, but it still has to pay their salaries, so they assign them to this and call it a project.
You should see the way this is treated at the annual Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meetings--the lunar scientists there don't take it seriously.
Quote from: Blackstar on 08/12/2015 10:38 pmThis is not a real mission. In your opinion...
Given the disdain some scientists have for engineering projects, I would not be surprised.
The most important thing that I find in this article is that it claims that money for the project has been secured. Claims launch date is in 2019.
Quote from: turbopumpfeedback2 on 09/15/2015 06:44 pmThe most important thing that I find in this article is that it claims that money for the project has been secured. Claims launch date is in 2019.Both of these claims are outdated and wrong ( the article is over a year old, too )
Quote from: savuporo on 09/15/2015 06:57 pmQuote from: turbopumpfeedback2 on 09/15/2015 06:44 pmThe most important thing that I find in this article is that it claims that money for the project has been secured. Claims launch date is in 2019.Both of these claims are outdated and wrong ( the article is over a year old, too )OK, I am a bit new in following a mission development in detail. What in your opinion would be the critical milestone to be passed so that mission looks certain (in a sense of allocation of budget, nasa design reviews etc)?
... Colaprete said something about 'politics' being the blocker in an open forum.
Lots of interesting discussions at LEAG about this proposed mission. I assume that you guys have all been monitoring them.