Something has happened in the field of American unmanned space exploration
in the past ten years that you might not be aware of...

But to explain it, I'll ask you a question: What agency oversaw the planning, R&D, launch, navigation, control and science-data acquisition for the successful spaceprobe, NEAR?

Was it JPL?...No!...It was APL [Based in Maryland].
APL [Applied Physics Laboratory].

Ten years ago, JPL had a MONOPOLY
on American unmanned space-exploration.
No longer!

What's more, this competition between
JPL and APL for unmanned deepspace missions IS GOOD! It means that there may not only be more American unmanned deepspace projects in the years ahead, but it also means that their will be COMPETITION between the two
when it comes to deepspace project bids[comparible to competing contractors trying to underbid each other for a building contract].

Example: JPL engineers & "bean-counters" may quote a figure of 600-million dollars for a JPL Mercury-orbiter project to NASA HQ; while APL staff may counter with a competing figure of 400-million dollars
for their own Mercury-orbiter [hypothetical numbers].
A saving of 200-million dollars.
Taxpayers will be happy, so will space and astronomy buffs....
Oh! And I haven't even mentioned
future competitors: Lockheed Martin,
Ball Aerospace.
Competition is good! It's the American way, isn't it, Tom?

cheers.
Jacob