Alex wrote:
While it's certainly true that the ambitious Solar Probe portion of the now-defunct Outer Planets/Solar Probe Project

See http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire//sprobe.htm

appears to be dead

See http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=2316

Alex writes:
Just a quick follow up. One may be interested in an instrument proposal, called ISIS, submitted by Southwest Research Institute for Solar Probe under NASA AO 99-OSS-04 Europa Orbiter/Pluto-Kuiper Express/Solar Probe:

See http://k2.space.swri.edu/scinews/isis.html

It's fair to say, however, that this proposal and others for Solar Probe are probably dead, which is a true shame. Though I'm a planetary scientist (I consulted with teams submitting proposals for instrument packages for Europa Orbiter and Pluto-Kuiper Express, as well as Pluto Kuiper Belt Mission) I support Solar Probe and think it should be funded, even if another mission has to be sacrificed.

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii