Page 95 - Modern Robotics Building Versatile Macines

ROBOT EXPLORERS 75

The mission cost $98 million, the cheapest planetary mission yet
attempted. That suggested the possibility of even greater achieve-
ments to come.

Better, Faster, Cheaper

Meanwhile, Mars continued to beckon. The results of the Mariner
Mars missions had whetted scientists’ appetite for learning more
about the planet’s geological history and the possible presence of
life. In 1976, NASA’s two Viking landers became the first space
probes to achieve sustained operations on the Martian surface. In
addition to the orbiters and their landers taking numerous high-
quality photos, the landers obtained and tested soil samples for
signs of chemicals that might indicate the presence of life. (The
results were inconclusive.)
As impressive as it was, Viking was also both very expensive and
limited in its capabilities, since it had no ability to move around the
Martian surface. In general, NASA was finding itself in the position
of launching only one or two expensive planetary exploration mis-
sions each decade or so. With all their eggs in only a few baskets,
the failure of a communications or landing system could mean
wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and many years of effort.
For example, Mars Observer, launched in September 1992, was
intended to be an ambitious, instrument-filled orbiting laboratory
for the study of the Martian climate and geology. In August 1993,
however, contact with the spacecraft was lost just as it was sched-
uled to enter orbit around Mars.
The lack of support for a faltering NASA space exploration
program led the agency’s new chief administrator, Daniel Goldin,
to shake up the bureaucracy. His “better, faster, cheaper” slogan
meant that for new space missions, designers would have to be bold
and creative in figuring out how to build less expensive, smaller
space probes. On the other hand, they would get to launch more
often—for Mars, this meant taking advantage of more of the launch
windows that arrive every two Earth-years or so.
Shirley had previously worked on a massive one-ton Mars rover
design that would have cost about $10 billion to build. Now she