NASA announced that science plans for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission are being reduced. Five of the eight science instruments are affected, either by outright removal or by constraints to their development. Two instruments are being removed: the Mars Descent Imaging Camera and a rock grinding tool that would have been used to image and measure chemical and mineral content inside of rocks. The rock-grinding tool is being replaced by a "brushing tool," which will only permit measurements on the surface of rocks. In addition, the zoom capability is being removed from the camera that will sit on the rover's mass.
This was all announced by Louis D. Friedman who is Executive Director of The Planetary Society. In 2006 NASA's buget was 15 billion of the 406 billion the US spent. NASA's current budget is 16.8 Billion
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