Planetary scientists from across the country provided input to the National Research Council, but not all will survive the tight federal budgets.
Even if the White House fiscal 2012 budget passes Congress without cuts – which is unlikely – the president's proposed budget numbers for NASA's space-science program from 2013 through 2016 "project the possible decline of planetary science in this country," says Steven Squyres, a Cornell University planetary scientist who chaired the panel producing the decadal survey.
If funds get too tight, the panel recommends scrapping the most ambitious and expensive missions on the list and focusing on smaller-scale missions that can return results more quickly.
