What is the approved budget of Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory?
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was the NASA Discovery-programme mission of two twin spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, that mapped the gravity field of the Moon from lunar orbit, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with Maria Zuber of MIT as principal investigator, launched on 10 September 2011 on a Delta II 7920H-10 and deliberately crashed into the lunar surface on 17 December 2012. Wikipedia, citing the NASA launch press kit, says NASA budgeted 496 million dollars for the programme, including spacecraft and instrument development, launch, mission operations and science support.
Approved budget
$496 million
Cost basis: 2011
NASAPublic domain