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NASA had a "go cheap" program to try crazy stuff on a shoestring that just might work. There were good results like Pathfinder ($150M) which tried the crazy idea of landing using an airbag.

The problem is that the Powers That Be were not understanding about the failures inherent in trying crazy ideas out. So we went back to expensive spacecraft which were less likely to fail.

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NASA has opportunities like the Small Explorers (SMEX, http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/APSMEX/), Discovery (http://discovery.nasa.gov/p_mission.cfml), and New Frontiers (http://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/program/index.cfml) into which you can propose to conduct missions of different size/cost classes.

If you have low-cost mission concepts for achieving important scientific objectives, please propose them.

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