When Funding Fails: Planetary Science in an Age of Austerity, 1967-1981

• In Event: 262 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06.

Abstract

How do scientists, engineers, and science administrators navigate periods of fiscal uncertainty? Comparing two NASA planetary exploration missions in the midst of a major budgetary crisis, I identify different budgetary strategies adopted by different missions using archival materials. The results in turn gesture toward a more expansive economic sociology of science funding and ask us to reconsider why big science experiments are so expensive.

Author

• David Reinecke, Princeton University