SPACE scientists hoping to resurrect the Cluster probes destroyed in the
Ariane 5 disaster last June suffered a major setback last week when France
unexpectedly voted against a proposal to rebuild the craft. The four Cluster
probes were supposed to study the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth鈥檚
magnetic field.
Last week, the Science Programme Committee (SPC) of the European Space Agency
voted overwhelmingly to repeat the mission before the end of the century. But
the French delegates鈥� refusal to back the plan could make it impossible, because
the mission would rely heavily on France鈥檚 participation. 鈥淚f the French will
not build part of the payload we have to ask whether it can go ahead,鈥� says
David Southwood, head of the physics department at Imperial College, London, and
a former chairman of the SPC. 鈥淚t is galling, to say the least.鈥�
Delegates at last week鈥檚 meeting say that the French were told to vote
against the proposal because France鈥檚 space agency, CNES, has no spare money.
CNES says that all its contingency funds have been soaked up by other costs
arising from the Ariane 5 failure.
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Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin of the Centre for the Study of Terrestrial and
Planetary Environments in Paris, principal investigator on Cluster鈥檚 magnetic
field fluctuation instruments, hopes that the vote against the proposal is not
the end of French involvement. 鈥淲e are still optimistic that we can find the
money,鈥� she says. French Cluster scientists are meeting this week to talk about
redistributing money from other projects. A new set of French instruments for
the mission will cost about 拢5 million.
Officials from Britain, Germany and other nations are optimistic that they
will find the money to rebuild their share of the satellites before the next SPC
meeting in late February. 鈥淭he SPC decision leaves us more or less where we have
been for some weeks, facing up to the challenge of finding the money for the new
payload,鈥� says Ken Pounds, chief executive of the UK Particle Physics and
Astronomy Research Council. He adds that about 拢1 million is left over
from the original Cluster budget. 鈥淪o we are short of 拢6 million.鈥� He
hopes the remaining funds will be found when Britain鈥檚 拢1.3 billion
science budget, announced last week, is divided among the research councils.
As a fallback position, the SPC decided to continue work on another option.
This involves flying three updated, small satellites that would work with a
replica of one of the originals. This would cost more than the 拢130
million needed for a replica mission. But the cost would be spread over a longer
period.