Dragonfly mission threatened by budget cuts.
NASA's proposed budget cut of nearly 20% for the Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan in 2024 could force changes to the mission or its schedule. The budget proposal reflects an 18.1% reduction from the $400.1 million Dragonfly received in fiscal year 2023. The proposed cut has gotten the attention of members of Congress. The pandemic has been one key factor in rising costs of planetary missions in general. Curt Niebur, lead scientist for flight programs in NASA’s planetary science division, said that planetary missions are overrunning their estimated costs for operations by an average of 52% over their original proposals.