United States. During a ceremony, the innovative APL (Applied Physics Lab) team, which used to work for the Navy but is now competing with JPL for low-cost NASA missions, presented NASA Administrator Daniel Goldman with a check for $3.6 million. This was left over from the already reduced budget ($122 million versus billions for previous missions) for the NEAR mission. JPL, spurred by this competition, will soon produce the Mars Pathfinder mission, with the Sojourner rover.
