Its a tough one

[symesie04]

Such tough decisions. I read with interest NASA hve selected another Mars lander as their next low budget mission. Set to launch in 2016 it will be a lander sent to measure seismic activity. However the two missions that were tunred in favour sound fabulous:

The two missions that missed out in the final Discovery selection were:

• Titan Mare Explorer - Billed as the first direct exploration of an ocean environment beyond Earth. This would put a "boat" on a large methane-ethane sea on Saturn's moon Titan.
  
• Comet Hopper - This would study cometary evolution by landing on a comet multiple times and observing its changes as it interacted with the Sun.
  

Come on a may be a bit of an old romantic but doesnt that first mission just sound incredible? How could you not sit and drool whilst waiting for the first images to be sent back?

Such tough decisions, how do they decide which goes and which doesnt?

[swamp thing]

Yeah! that Titan one does sound ridiculously cool ( ahem). What a shame they can't do both.

[JamesF]

I like the idea of a Comet Hopper too

James

[Tinker1947]

All down to Dollars, they don't have enough,,,

[symesie04]

Well its about time these super rich world businessmen donated their funds to a truely worthwhile cause then instead of wasting it on buying overpaid, whingeing children who claim to be footballers.

[DirkSteele]

In my opinion, the two missions not selected actually sounds far more interesting that Mars mission. Oh well. Perhaps one day the others will get off the ground.

[TheNorthernMonkey]

Although the other 2 sound cooler, NASA has a strategic direction to land people on Mars.

With that in mind, its not suprising that landing on Mars instead of somewhere else got priority