Triana, the Vice Presidents brainchild satellite that would broadcast pictures of Earth for real-time display on the Internet, remains in peril after the House of Representatives stripped funding for the project from an authorization bill in May.

The satellite, slated for launch in December 2001, would be sent to a special point between the Earth and Sun where it would have a continuous view of the sun-lit portion of the planet. From there, it would broadcast live pictures to the Internet and television.

The idea for the project reportedly came to Gore in February 1998 when he awoke at 3 a.m. and envisioned Earth as seen from space. If such a view could be broadcast on the Internet, he later said, it would increase environmental awareness and pique public interest in scientific projects.

After Gore pitched the idea to NASA administrator Daniel Goldin, NASA began evaluating proposals for the project, and selected one given by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego. Scripps expanded the scope of the Triana mission to include a series of measures to monitor Earths environment.

The Scripps proposal raised Trianas expected cost to $75 million from initial estimates that were as low as $20 million. This year, the project received $35 million in funding, but House Republicans now vehemently oppose giving any more money to the project.

Representative Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican, called Triana "tripe science." House Majority Leader Dick Armey, of Texas, labeled it "a far-out boondoggle." The House voted by a count of 259 to 168 to pass NASAs authorization bill that was stripped of funding for Triana except for $2.5 million in termination costs.

Of course, in Washington, even a project that's been killed isn't necessarily dead yet. Funding for Triana could be reinserted in the budget when a joint House and Senate committee meets later this summer to hammer out a unified authorization bill, but don't count on it. There hasn't been one of those since 1993.

The more important process is scheduled to take place in the Senate appropriations committee July 19. There, Triana may find a friend in Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski, of Maryland, who is the ranking member on the subcommittee which handles NASA funding. Triana will be assembled and tested in Greenbelt, Maryland, at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Still, the satellites future is anyones call.

"If somebody claims to know the fate of [Triana], theyre blowing smoke in the wind," says NASAs legislative affairs specialist Margaret Kieffer, but NASA remains "optimistic" about Trianas continued funding, she said.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars of specially-designed parts designed for Triana are already in production. If the project is ultimately terminated, those might have to be scrapped, according to Dave Steitz, a spokesman for NASAs Office of Earth Science.

"Its a bad idea to cancel things midway through," Steitz said. "Ultimately, if you dont want to fund a mission, you should not allow it to begin."