From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Eric Berger, writing at Teslarati, is rather down on NASA's EC   
   managment, and the handcuffs provided by Capitol Hill:   
      
      
   [...] that means that if Falcon Heavy was ready to launch Europa   
   Clipper when the spacecraft is expected to be ready in 2024, it would   
   actually arrive at the same time (or close) if it launched on SLS –   
   once a minimum two-year launch vehicle delay is accounted for. A Falcon   
   Heavy would also save NASA at least $1-2 billion, while it would   
   directly save the Europa Clipper program the ~$250 million it would   
   otherwise need to spend to store the spacecraft while waiting years for   
   an SLS rocket. That $250 million alone – an inevitable add-on cost if   
   SLS is chosen – could easily double the budget of every single Europa   
   Clipper science instrument, adding plenty of breathing room,   
   reinstating ICEMAG, and likely improving the science they output –   
   data-gathering quite literally being the whole purpose of the mission.   
      
      
   He says the only sign of hope is that Congress might open a small   
   opportunity to switch launchers, based on one of the rewrites of a   
   draft bill.   
      
      
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   "Inviting people to laugh with you while you are laughing at yourself   
   is a good thing to do,  You may be a fool but you're the fool in   
   charge." -- Carl Reiner   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)