THE WOODLANDS, Texas — “I think I’m not supposed to say ‘got whacked.’ Am I allowed to say ‘got whacked?’” asked John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science, while considering how to describe the cuts dealt to planetary sciences in President Obama’s proposed 2013 NASA budget. It’s no secret that planetary sciences got hit badly, cut by more than $300 million (more than 20%) from the year before. Funds are running kind of like water on present-day Mars — one of the hardest-hit exploration programs — seeping, not flowing, and leaving planetary scientists pa...

In planets' cores, molecules may not compress tightly.