"Now how would you spend say $120 million dollars?"

I'm not sure - how would you spend the value of the lost science data for Genesis, Polar Lander, Climate Orbiter, Mars Observer, the HGA failure on Gallileo.....and date one say it - the shuttle. You want waste - look at NASA. FWIW - as a payer of European taxes, I consider Huygens a bargin.

To suggest you can 'spend' this money is moronic. It's already gone. It's not there to be spent elsewhere. Never was. Never will be.

I'm not suggesting that NEO observations are not highly important - but to suggest that a percentage of a mission cost somehow magically 'reppears' and should be spent elsewhere is very very stupid.

How much did the Olympics cost, your last visit to the Cinema, the last time you bought a $50 pair of trousers instead of the $ cheap pair, the US DoD budget etc etc etc

We all waste money - it's just a matter of how much we do with what's left. Huygens is an enormous success and for the price it was, has given us an ENORMOUS scientific gain- the data loss is quite low - your ignorance on the issue quite high.

Doug Ellison