Jeff F wrote:
Sacrificing Pluto ands Europa for now is quite acceptable given the strides that space exploration is about endure, it's very, very exciting.

Alex writes:
How exactly is the cancellation of a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission (New Horizons) and Europa exploration (Europa Orbiter), both of which have very compelling science justification, "acceptable" for "strides [in] in space exploration" that may be, even conservatively estimating, at least a decade away? Frankly, the history of "promising" and enabling technical breakthroughs is littered with failure and/or prolonged delay and cost overrun. At any rate, New Horizons does not need these enabling technologies to fly in 2006, and can do it cheaper (~$500 million) than waiting for more expensive vaporware that may never come to fruition.

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii