Spaceflight:

* Europa Mission: Lost In NASA Budget

http://www.space.com/news/060207_europa_budget.html

NASA's newly issued budget has lowered a flagship mission of exploration to
half-mast. Backed by scientists and study groups, a mission to Jupiter's moon
Europa is missing in action within the pages of NASA's Fiscal Year 2007 budget
unveiled yesterday.

Interesting quotes:

One additional payload on Europa Explorer: a simple lander.

Pappalardo said a lander is still being bandied about, but carrying what kind of technology and at what cost are questions awaiting answers.

“We’re not going to search for life with this mission. But just like the Mars rovers in their search for habitable environments…we’re going to characterize the habitability of Europa,” Pappalardo said.

An orbiter to the moon of Jupiter would allow a now sketchy view to become sharp as to how this world works, Pappalardo concluded. This mission, he said, has compelling science and broad community support and “we’re ready to go.”

and:

Also, the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently studying the Jovian Minisat Explorer (JME). The JME focuses on exploration of the Jovian system and particularly the exploration of its moon Europa. The ESA study is also looking into deploying a compact microprobe onto Europa to perform on-the-spot measurement of the moon’s ice crust.

* NASA Seeks 30-Percent Increase for Exploration Program

http://www.space.com/news/060206_nasa_budget.html

Efforts to replace the space shuttle fleet with new Moon-bound spacecraft would
receive big spending increases under NASA's 2007 budget request, while nearly
every other part of the U.S. space agency's budget would be held flat or
decline.

* SPACE NEWS: Policy or Politics? NASA Accused of Intimidating Climatologist

http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_060206.html

NASA is battling accusations that it tried to stifle its top climatologist, a
man well known for speaking his mind about the causes and consequences of global warming.