NASA just released its presidential budget request for 2013 and, as expected, the space agency’s planetary science program takes a big hit. The budget document (summary pdf) is merely the first volley in an often drawn-out exchange between the White House and Congress, but still sets the general direction for the space program.
The Curiosity Mars Rover project has so far cost each American about $7. For what it has accomplished (the technological applications developed for it) and for what we may learn from it, it seems like a small investment. Americans spend more than that each week on junk.