AAAS reports (http://bit.ly/zSM8IO) that Ed Weiler, the director of NASA's science mission, resigned last fall to protest targeted cuts in ExoMars, a planned collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency to send an orbiter and two rovers to the red planet. Weiler stated that "We are the only country in the world that has demonstrated the capability to land anything on Mars. How can we allow that to be undermined?"
The president's budget proposes a $300M, 20% cut in NASA's planetary science program that would derail our commitment to the Mars mission. Why focus cuts on an area where our country has demonstrated global leadership? It seems unwise.