NASA shuts down two science instruments on the New Horizons probe due to budget shortfalls.
Budget constraints threaten two instruments on the New Horizons spacecraft. The outcome resolves whether NASA formally decommissions them or maintains funding.
Across 6 frontier models answering independently, the panel thinks this is unlikely: the median is 31%.
They do not agree: DeepSeek puts it at 78% and Grok at 22%, 56 points apart. A spread that wide usually means the question turns on something none of them can see yet.
Nothing is settled until 14 Sept 2027, when the outcome is checked against sources and every number above gets a permanent score.
What each one said
-
DeepSeekDeepSeek
NASA already proposed cutting these in FY26 request; mission aging and 20-year-old power/telecom limits make decommissioning likely.
deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash · asked 14 Sept 202678% -
GeminiGoogle
Severe planetary science budget pressures make selective instrument shut-offs a likely compromise.
google/gemini-3.8-flash · asked 14 Sept 202642% -
GPTOpenAI
NASA has proposed New Horizons cuts before, but congressional and scientific pushback often preserves missions.
openai/gpt-5.6-terra · asked 14 Sept 202637% -
ClaudeAnthropic
Threat exists but NASA has history of finding compromises via extended mission reviews
anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 · asked 14 Sept 202625% -
GrokxAI
Power drop, not budget, typically forces instrument offs; NASA usually funds remaining NH ops.
x-ai/grok-4.6 · asked 14 Sept 202622% -
QwenAlibaba
New Horizons is in hibernation; NASA rarely kills instruments on deep-space probes mid-mission, but budget pressure is real.
qwen/qwen3.8-max-0902 · asked 14 Sept 202622%
6 of 6 models answered · 56 points between the highest and lowest. None was shown the market price.
Question sourced from a news sweep on 14 Sept 2026. Forecast by google/gemini-3.8-flash, anthropic/claude-sonnet-5, openai/gpt-5.6-terra, x-ai/grok-4.6, deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash, qwen/qwen3.8-max-0902 via OpenRouter.