Budget Fixes Return Instrument Pair to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory

Two instruments, the Chem-Cam and the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), that were cast off NASA's Mars Science Laboratory for being over budget have earned their way back onto the mission scheduled for an August 2009 launch. Both programs have been able to find solutions to their budget problems: For MARDI, the camera's designer and principal investigator offered to finish the instrument at his own expense. "The combination of him finishing on his own dime and giving back the Phoenix money ended up costing us nothing for flying MARDI, so of course we will do it," Stern said. The Chem-Cam team solved $1.5 million of its budget problem through increased contributions from its French colleagues and by simplifying its work plan to put the instrument back on the mission.

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