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Archive for planetary science division

What We’re Doing About NASA’s Planetary Science Budget Cut

By alkaon on April 17, 2013 No Comments

See other posts from April 2013

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Posted By Casey Dreier

2013/04/16 05:43 CDT

Topics:

mission status,

Planetary Society Political Advocacy,

NASA Budget

On April 10th, the President’s 2014 Budget was released and it contained bad news (i.e. $200 million cut) for NASA’s Planetary Science division. Congress has just weeks ago restored a similar cut from the previous year; it was a tough budget to read.

That was almost a week ago. What are we doing about it?

An Easy Way to Write Congress
We’ve set up a new section on our website so you can easily write Congress and share your support for planetary science. We’ve set a goal of 25,000 letters to representatives around the country. A follow-up email makes it easy for you to call your representative and reinforce your message.

We’ve Reached Out to Our Members
All Planetary Society members have been alerted to this, and we’ve asked them to reach out to Congress (or to President Barack Obama if you live outside the United States). Some will receive physical petitions via snail-mail, which will take a little longer to send out.

Coordination with Other Scientific Organizations
We’re in close contact with professional organizations like the AAS’s Division for Planetary Science and the American Geophysical Union to make sure that our goals and messages reinforce each other.

Preparing Testimony to Congress
The Planetary Society is busy preparing testimony to submit to Congress in time for the congressional hearings on the NASA budget next week.

Lobbying Congress
The Planetary Society will be in Washington, D.C. in May to meet with legislators to talk about Planetary Science funding, as well as hold a special event on Capitol Hill to share the importance of this effective, affordable division within NASA.

Spreading the Word
We’ve asked our members and supporters to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. We also held an immediate webcast about the budget, and are working on op-eds to submit to papers around the country and partnering with other new-media outlets.

The Goal
We’re pushing for $1.5 billion for NASA’s Planetary Science division, the amount it had in 2012. It’s a reasonable sum and, according to analyses by the scientific community, enables a robust program that includes a mission to Europa.

What Happens Next
The next major events are the congressional committee hearings on NASA’s budget in both the House and the Senate in the next few weeks. We will see the first response to the President’s proposals for NASA there.

Article source: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/20130416-what-were-doing-about-nasas-fy14-budget.html

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Proposed Senate Bill Restores $223 million to NASA’s Planetary Science Division

By alkaon on March 12, 2013 No Comments

See other posts from March 2013

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A step in the positive direction, but far from certain

Posted By Casey Dreier

2013/03/12 02:19 CDT

Topics:

Space Policy,

NASA Budget,

Plutonium-238,

Explaining Policy

Today the United States Senate announced a bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of 2013. This is the Senate’s version of a bill that the House of Representatives passed last week. Like the House bill, the Senate extends funding for many agencies at 2012 levels; unlike the House bill, the Senate’s bill contains specific language for funding all of NASA.

“Good news” is not a phrase I have used often (ever?) in my year of discussing the budget of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. In fact, I can’t quite bring myself to use it now. So I’m not saying this is good news – yet.

Let’s call it a positive development and we’ll leave it at that for now.

The real key to this bill – and why I’m cautiously excited – is that it contains specific funding directives for NASA’s Planetary Science program.

To quickly recap: last year, the Obama Administration released a proposed budget that drastically cut the Planetary Science Division at NASA, the program responsible for all robotic interplanetary exploration. It cut funding by $309 million (21%!), which gutted the Mars program, slowed down the pace of smaller missions, and prevented any mission to Europa, the moon of Jupiter with a salty ocean. This is the worst funding crisis for the program in over thirty years.

In today’s Senate funding bill, they propose restoring $223 million to Planetary Science, reversing nearly all of the cuts.

The Senate also specifies how the money will be allocated, boosting Discovery (small-missions), Mars exploration, outer planets, and scientific research. It also includes additional directives for $14.5 million for Plutonium-238 production (YES! –ed) and $75 million for “pre-formulation and/or formulation activities” for a mission to Europa. The numbers are universally good, though we’re still not back to the magic $1.5 billion that we’ve advocated for here at The Planetary Society.

The Numbers

Here are some of the specifics and how they relate to the proposed 2013 budget from the Obama Administration. You can see the full details on page 57 of this PDF.

I just want to jump in here and say that these numbers are very good. Not perfect, but a lot further in the right direction than I expected. Last year, the Senate Appropriations committee restored only $100 million to Planetary Science, entirely to the Mars program. The House had added a lot more, though not enough to fully restore the budget. I expected that this bill would be a compromise between the two, but instead we get a level very similar to the House’s proposal.

My Feelings Exactly

What This Means

If this bill is passed, it will send a strong message to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before it releases next year’s 2014 budget. We’ve heard rumors that the cuts to Planetary Science were set to continue (due to the lack of Congressional direction on the issue). A real funding bill which restores the vast majority of cuts may send a strong-enough signal to the OMB to accept that Congress (and the people!) is committed to Planetary Science. It’s very late in the 2014 budget process, though, so there is no guarantee that this will be the case.

With increased funding to key programs, NASA can start to rebuild its Planetary Sciences program. An increased Discovery budget would surely mean an increased frequency of small missions, perhaps moving the next mission opportunity to 2014 (instead of 2015). Increased funding to the Mars Exploration program would help kick start development of Mars 2020 and all-but-guarantee extended missions for our current slate of spacecraft on and around the Red Planet.

It also brings us another step closer to a mission to Europa, though this is still very uncertain given the small investment here. I consider this enough to keep the embers alive on this mission until real funding becomes available.

Sequestration

This bill does nothing to reverse Sequestration. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, which is the parent division of Planetary Science, will face a cut of 8.2%, but NASA is free to spread the total savings unequally between Earth Science, Heliophysics, Astrophysics, JWST, and Planetary Science. No one is quite sure about the details here.

What’s Next

We face multiple hurdles before this bill becomes law. The Senate must vote to pass this bill. Since it differs from the House’s funding bill, the House either needs to approve the Senate version or they must go into conference to produce a compromise bill. This all needs to happen within the next two weeks to avert a government shutdown. This is why I’m cautious. A lot can (and will) happen before we can truly celebrate.

But remember, there is still a lot of work to be done here. Even if this total amount gets restored, it’s really hitting the $1.5 billion level that will allow a real start to a Europa mission and more resources towards research (to support the scientific community) and increased frequency of mid-sized, New Frontiers missions.

We also need to be ready to react to the Administration’s 2014 budget, which will be released sometime in early April. If they insist on maintaining the cut, we will insist that Congress restore it, again.

Related

Write to your Representative in Support of Planetary Science

Comments:

changcho: 03/12/2013 02:43 CDT

Article source: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2013/20130312-proposed-senate-bill-restores-223-million-to-planetary-science.html

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NASA Hosts Nov. 29 News Conference About Mercury Polar Regions

By alkaon on November 27, 2012 No Comments

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – NASA will host a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 29, to reveal new observations from the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury. The briefing will be held in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )

Science Journal has embargoed details until 2 p.m. on Nov. 29. The news conference will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, or MESSENGER spacecraft has been studying Mercury in unprecedented detail since its historic arrival there in March 2011.

The news conference participants are:

-       Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington -       Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y. -       David Lawrence, MESSENGER Participating Scientist, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. -       Gregory Neumann, Mercury Laser Altimeter Instrument Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. -       David Paige, MESSENGER Participating Scientist, University of California, Los Angeles

Journalists may attend the briefing in-person, ask questions from participating NASA locations and join by phone or via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about NASA’s MESSENGER mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/messenger

 

 

SOURCE NASA

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Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/26/5011290/nasa-hosts-nov-29-news-conference.html

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NASA officials say Mars exploration still a priority – WKYC

By alkaon on October 28, 2012 No Comments

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WASHINGTON – NASA will continue its plans to explore Mars despite uncertainty about where the country’s space program is headed following retirement of the space shuttles last year, space experts said Thursday.

Recent Mars missions have been successful and future missions are on track, said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters.

“We now know enough about Mars to know where to go,” he said in discussing planetary exploration over the past 50 years and the next 50 years.

Green made his comments at a two-day NASA-sponsored event at Lockheed Martin’s Global Visions Center in Arlington, Va., marking the 50th anniversary of planetary exploration.

A major goal of NASA’s Mars program is to bring pieces of the planet back to Earth for analysis, Green said.

“The next big step is sample return,” he said.

Some experts said NASA may have trouble financing larger missions.
“We can’t do any flagship activities with the budgets we have currently,” Richard Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

Roger Handberg, a space policy expert at the University of Central Florida, said the focus on cutting federal spending will take money from space science programs.

Green said NASA needs to build public support for more funding by communicating its successes and goals in understandable language.
“One thing that’s hard to explain to people is how expensive our systems are,” he said.

Andre Bormanis, a writer and television producer working on a new production of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos,” said the space program has been hampered by uncertainty in the past.

“There is stability in the program,” he said. “The issue for the community is whether it’s going to get the big flashy missions.”
Exploring Mars will help scientists better understand climate change, the origins of life, and geological evolution on Earth, Zurek said.
“Is there water in the atmosphere or not?” he said. “That’s the kind of stage we’re at.”

By KATELYNN RUSNOCK, Gannett Washington Bureau

Gannett

Article source: http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/266636/226/NASA-officials-say-Mars-exploration-still-a-priority-

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Mars visits remain a top NASA priority

By alkaon on October 27, 2012 No Comments

NASA will continue its plans to explore Mars despite uncertainty about where the country’s space program is headed , experts said Thursday.

Recent missions have been successful and future missions are on track, said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters.

“We now know enough about Mars to know where to go,” he said .

Green made his comments at a two-day NASA-sponsored event at Lockheed Martin’s Global Visions Center in Arlington, Va., marking the 50th anniversary of planetary exploration.

A major goal of NASA’s Mars program is to bring pieces of the planet back to Earth for analysis, Green said.

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NASA’s Planetary Science Future Rides on Huge Mars Rover’s Success

By alkaon on April 1, 2012 No Comments




NASA Mars Rover Curiosity

This artist’s concept features NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity launched toward the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2011.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech


A huge NASA rover streaking toward Mars to investigate the Red Planet’s potential to host life has picked up a new mission objective — help save the space agency’s planetary science program.

In the Obama Administration’s budget request for next year, which was unveiled last month, NASA planetary science suffered a 21 percent cut, compelling the agency to scale back its robotic exploration efforts and drop out of two future European-led Mars missions entirely.

But top NASA officials are holding out hope that some funding may be restored in the future if the 1-ton Curiosity rover, which is due to arrive at the Red Planet this August, lands safely and performs as advertised.

“What a tremendous opportunity it is for us,” Jim Green, head of NASA’s planetary science division, said Monday (March 19) at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in The Woodlands, Texas. “I believe [Curiosity] will open up that new era of discovery that will compel this nation to invest more in planetary science.” [Photos: Curiosity Launches Toward Mars]



Tough fiscal times

The White House’s budget request for fiscal year 2013 keeps NASA funding relatively flat at $17.7 billion. But it cuts planetary science funding from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, with further reductions expected in the coming years.

NASA’s venerable Mars program — which has had a string of successes recently, including the Phoenix lander and the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity — takes a particularly hard hit. Its funding drops from $587 million this year to $360 million in 2013, then falls to just $189 million in 2015.

The cuts have forced NASA to temporarily shelve plans for future multibillion-dollar “flagship” planetary missions. That’s a departure for the space agency, which has launched roughly one of these ambitious, expensive efforts per decade, including Curiosity last year and the Cassini mission to the Saturn system in 1997.

The proposed budget cut also compels NASA to drop out of the European-led ExoMars missions, which aim to launch an orbiter and a drill-toting rover toward the Red Planet in 2016 and 2018, respectively. These two missions are viewed as key steps toward an eventual Mars sample-return effort, a high-priority NASA flagship that is not feasible in the current fiscal environment.

In the meantime, NASA officials are reformulating and downscaling their Mars efforts. They’re hoping to launch a less expensive “medium-class” mission to Mars in 2018 to help keep the program vital, and to take advantage of favorable orbital dynamics between Mars and Earth at that time.

“Losing 21 percent of the budget is very difficult,” Green said. “We’re developing a strategy to try to recapture some element of our program later on in the decade.”

Curiosity Rover Touches Down

Help from Curiosity?

But Green and other NASA officials are not resigned to a permanently hobbled planetary science program. They think some funding could come back if Curiosity reminds the nation — and lawmakers — just what NASA robotic exploration can do.

Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which launched in November 2011 and is due to touch down at the Red Planet’s Gale Crater in early August 2012. Its chief aim is to assess whether the Gale Crater area can, or ever could, support microbial life.

NASA is expecting big things from the rover.

“I think when we set down in Gale Crater, it’s going to be an explosion of science,” John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said at LPSC Monday. “It’s going to be incredibly exciting.”

Grunsfeld and Green voiced hope that this excitement would extend beyond scientists, reaching the American public and the politicians who hold NASA’s purse strings. They urged the researchers present at the conference to help make this happen, by using any means at their disposal to generate interest in Curiosity’s landing on the night of Aug. 5.

That landing will be incredibly dramatic. In a maneuver that has never been tried before, a rocket-powered sky crane will lower the massive rover down to the Martian surface on cables, with cameras rolling all the while.

“This is just a seminal event,” Green said. “We should not let this opportunity go by without relaying it to our stakeholders, and that gets right down to the general public.”

Grunsfeld agreed, saying Curiosity’s landing and science campaign on Mars could help galvanize support for NASA’s entire planetary science program.

“I think the way to recover the program is to have a much broader community understand the value, and we have a huge opportunity with MSL landing — where there’ll be a lot of visibility, some real discoveries, some really interesting discoveries — to talk about the exciting work that leverages the science,” Grunsfeld said.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Article source: http://www.space.com/14959-mars-rover-curiosity-nasa-planetary-science.html

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Categories : Mars News
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Curiosity mission can save future of US planetary science

By alkaon on March 20, 2012 No Comments

A huge NASA rover streaking toward Mars to investigate the Red Planet’s potential to host life has picked up a new mission objective — help save the space agency’s planetary science program.

In the Obama administration’s budget request for next year, which was unveiled last month, NASA planetary science suffered a 21 percent cut, compelling the agency to scale back its robotic exploration efforts and drop out of two future European-led Mars missions entirely.

But top NASA officials are holding out hope that some funding may be restored in the future if the 1-ton Curiosity rover, which is due to arrive at the Red Planet this August, lands safely and performs as advertised.

“What a tremendous opportunity it is for us,” Jim Green, head of NASA’s planetary science division, said Monday at the 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in The Woodlands, Texas. “I believe (Curiosity) will open up that new era of discovery that will compel this nation to invest more in planetary science.” [ Photos: Curiosity Launches Toward Mars ]

Tough fiscal times

The White House’s budget request for fiscal year 2013 keeps NASA funding relatively flat at $17.7 billion. But it cuts planetary science funding from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, with further reductions expected in the coming years.

NASA’s venerable Mars program — which has had a string of successes recently, including the Phoenix lander and the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity — takes a particularly hard hit. Its funding drops from $587 million this year to $360 million in 2013, then falls to just $189 million in 2015.

The cuts have forced NASA to temporarily shelve plans for future multibillion-dollar “flagship” planetary missions. That’s a departure for the space agency, which has launched roughly one of these ambitious, expensive efforts per decade, including Curiosity last year and the Cassini mission to the Saturn system in 1997.

The proposed budget cut also compels NASA to drop out of the European-led ExoMars missions, which aim to launch an orbiter and a drill-toting rover toward the Red Planet in 2016 and 2018, respectively. These two missions are viewed as key steps toward an eventual Mars sample-return effort, a high-priority NASA flagship that is not feasible in the current fiscal environment.

In the meantime, NASA officials are reformulating and downscaling their Mars efforts. They’re hoping to launch a less expensive “medium-class” mission to Mars in 2018 to help keep the program vital, and to take advantage of favorable orbital dynamics between Mars and Earth at that time.

“Losing 21 percent of the budget is very difficult,” Green said. “We’re developing a strategy to try to recapture some element of our program later on in the decade.”



NASA / JPL-Caltech

Help from Curiosity?

But Green and other NASA officials are not resigned to a permanently hobbled planetary science program. They think some funding could come back if Curiosity reminds the nation — and lawmakers — just what NASA robotic exploration can do.

Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which launched in November 2011 and is due to touch down at the Red Planet’s Gale Crater in early August 2012. Its chief aim is to assess whether the Gale Crater area can, or ever could, support microbial life.

NASA is expecting big things from the rover.

“I think when we set down in Gale Crater, it’s going to be an explosion of science,” John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said at LPSC Monday. “It’s going to be incredibly exciting.”

Grunsfeld and Green voiced hope that this excitement would extend beyond scientists, reaching the American public and the politicians who hold NASA’s purse strings. They urged the researchers present at the conference to help make this happen, by using any means at their disposal to generate interest in Curiosity’s landing on the night of Aug. 5.


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That landing will be incredibly dramatic. In a maneuver that has never been tried before, a rocket-powered sky crane will lower the massive rover down to the Martian surface on cables, with cameras rolling all the while.

“This is just a seminal event,” Green said. “We should not let this opportunity go by without relaying it to our stakeholders, and that gets right down to the general public.”

Grunsfeld agreed, saying Curiosity’s landing and science campaign on Mars could help galvanize support for NASA’s entire planetary science program.

“I think the way to recover the program is to have a much broader community understand the value, and we have a huge opportunity with MSL landing — where there’ll be a lot of visibility, some real discoveries, some really interesting discoveries — to talk about the exciting work that leverages the science,” Grunsfeld said.

You can follow Space.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

© 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46797104/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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NASA considers deep space moon outpost

By alkaon on February 15, 2012 No Comments

NASA is considering the possibility of a deep space moon outpost, Space.com reports. However, NASA’s fiscal year 2013 budget cuts may axe the space agency’s plans before any astronauts ever reach the launch pad.

Citing a memo from William Gerstenmaier, who is NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, Space.com reports that NASA is assembling a team of space experts to examine the Earth-Moon libration point 2 (EML-2) as a potential location for a deep space moon outpost.

NASA has requested $17.7 billion for 2013. The space agency’s budget request represents a five percent reduction from the $18.7 billion that President Barack Obama set aside for NASA in a budget he sent to Congress in February 2011.

NASA budget cuts would severely impact the space agency’s planetary science division. The space agency’s latest budget proposal would decrease funding for this division from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion.

Edward Weiler, NASA’s former administrator for science, slammed the proposed budget cuts Monday. “To me, it’s totally irrational and unjustified,” Mr. Weiler said, according to Christian Science Monitor.

“We are the only country on this planet that has the demonstrated ability to land on another planet, namely Mars. It is a national prestige issue,” Mr. Weiler added. Citing two NASA scientists, the Christian Science Monitor reports that $200 million of the $300 million reduction in the space agency’s planetary science division budget will impact the Mars program.

The NASA Lunar Science Institute reports that a team of space experts has been working with Lockheed Martin to assess the possibility of a deep space moon outpost at EML-2. The LUNAR center is contemplating the possibility of human missions to EML-2, which would allow scientists to plan future missions to deep space and to conduct exciting news research projects.

In a LUNAR center white paper, which was provided to Space.com, space experts contend that astronauts would travel 15 percent farther from Earth in an EML-2 mission than the Apollo astronauts did. The astronauts would also be in deep space three times longer than the Apollo astronauts were.

According to Space.com, Mr. Gerstenmaier’s memo contained six strategic principles for deep space exploration. Some of the strategic principles suggest that NASA is looking outside of its own budget in order to fund such a costly project.

One of the strategic principles highlighted by NASA is the utilization of its partnership with the International Space Station to make an EML-2 mission possible. The memo also suggests that NASA can reduce costs by relying on the private sector for logistics support. Furthermore, the memo illustrates the need to build infrastructure that can be both reused and re-purposed for other deep space adventures.

An EML-2 mission would give scientists the ability to answer a number of important questions about deep space exploration. For example, what kind of radiation would deep space astronauts be exposed to on the far side of the moon?

“This is extremely exciting from both the exploration and science sides,” Jack Burns, director of Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research, posited to Space.com. “This mission concept seems to be really taking off now because it is unique and offers the prospects of doing something significant outside of low-Earth orbit within this decade,” Mr. Burns added.

 

Article source: http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/2012/02/14/nasa-considers-deep-space-moon-outpost/

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NASA’s space exploration plans take a galactic hit

By alkaon on February 14, 2012 No Comments

NASA plans to drop nearly $310 million from the budget for its Planetary Science division in 2013, a 20 percent cut that affects future missions to Mars, lunar science, and the study of the outer planets.

The cuts are part of a $17.7 billion budget request NASA unveiled Monday a mere 0.3 percent cut from the 17.8 billion Congress approved in November for 2012. But it represents a 5 percent cut from the $18.7 billion President Barack Obama penciled in for 2013 in the five-year budget he sent to Congress this time last year.

And it leaves NASA funded at its lowest level in four years, forcing the space agency to juggle priorities and “devastating planetary science,” said Bill Nye, CEO of space exploration group The Planetary Society.

“Science is the part of NASA that’s actually conducting interesting and scientifically important missions,” Nye said in a statement about the 2013 budgetary figures. “Spacecraft sent to Mars, Saturn, Mercury, the Moon, comets, and asteroids have been making incredible discoveries, with more to come from recent launches to Jupiter, the Moon, and Mars.”

“The country needs more of these robotic space exploration missions, not less.”

NASA administrator Charles Bolden defended the restructuring in a statement accompanying the new budget.

“NASA’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget moves the Agency forward strongly on a path that will maintain America’s preeminence in space exploration,” he wrote.

It’ll just have to do that with less money.

The Planetary Science division took the biggest hit, falling to about $1.2 billion in 2013 from $1.5 billion in 2012. That means Mars exploration will suffer. After an already mostly built Mars mission in 2013, future journeys to the Red Planet are eliminated, put on hold or restructured.

In NASA’s explanation, the proposed budget “restructures future long-term Mars missions to better integrate our science and human Mars exploration efforts.”

The Planetary Society sees it differently, stating that the new budget will force NASA “to walk away from planned missions to Mars, delay for decades any flagship missions to the outer planets, and radically slow the pace of scientific discovery, including the search for life on other worlds.”

The proposal would also cut $309 million for studying planets this year, with more cuts in future years. That said, NASA’s overall budget for space exploration is about $4.1 billion.  

Much of the cuts resulted from increases and cost overruns on the ambitious but expensive James Webb Space Telescope, which will increase by 21 percent. The telescope, which may cost $8 billion in the long run, is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and would peer further into the universe and back in time than ever.

The budget would double the amount of money spent to help private firms develop their own spaceships that could eventually carry astronauts and others to the International Space Station as taxis. This would replace the now retired space shuttle program and the dependence on Russia for rides into orbit. The president wants to spend $829.7 million to help these companies, but Congress has regularly cut his commercial space proposals. The budget includes the last bit of spending on the retired space shuttles: $71 million.

Much of the spending continues a trend shifting from current space missions to developing the next generation of rockets and capsules for flights out of Earth’s orbit to an asteroid or even to Mars. The president proposes an extra $345 million in spending on developing new rocketry and space technology. That overall proposal includes $1.8 billion for a congressionally mandated large rocket that could carry bigger loads further into space and $1 billion for the Orion crew capsule to take astronauts to new places.

A first test flight of the spaceships — without astronauts — could be as early as 2017, with astronauts flying in them no earlier than 2021.

The agency also announced it would trim its workforce by 250 employees, “right-sizing” the space agency at 18,000 full time employees.

“I encourage whoever made this decision to ask around; everyone on Earth wants to know if there is life on other worlds,” Nye said. “When you cut NASA’s budget in this way, you’re losing sight of why we explore space in the first place.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/13/nasa-funding-cuts-coming-space-exploration-to-suffer/

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NASA funding cuts coming, space exploration to suffer?

By alkaon on February 13, 2012 No Comments

U.S. President Barack Obama will ask Congress for $17.7 billion for NASA for 2013, an amount that would leave the agency funded at its lowest level in four years, according to sources familiar with the forthcoming budget proposal.

NASA’s planetary science division would shoulder a heavy share of the cut. Under the president’s proposal, its budget would drop from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, a 20 percent reduction.

Due on Capitol Hill Feb. 13, the $17.7 billion NASA budget proposal represents only a slight reduction from the $17.8 billion Congress approved in November for 2012. But compared to the $18.7 billion Obama penciled in for 2013 in the five-year budget he sent Congress this time last year, it represents a 5 percent cut.

Things could have been worse. According to a source familiar with the Obama administration’s internal budget deliberations, the White House Office of Management and Budget asked the agency last fall to submit budget proposals for three scenarios: a 5 percent cut, a 10 percent cut and a 15 percent cut, relative to the outyear spending plan submitted last year. [Photos: President Obama and NASA]

With no top line budget relief, the cost overruns on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope weighed heavily on the agency’s planetary science division, sources said. News of the 20-percent cut was first reported Feb. 8 by The Washington Post. A spate of news stories about the deep cuts in store for NASA’s popular robotic Mars exploration program followed.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a House Appropriations Committee member whose Pasadena, Calif., district is home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which specializes in executing planetary missions, issued the following statement Feb. 9 following a meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden: “As I told the Administrator during our meeting, I oppose these ill-considered cuts and I will do everything in my power to restore the Mars budget and to ensure American leadership in space exploration.”

Meanwhile, late Feb. 9, the White House directed federal agencies, including NASA and the U.S. Air Force, to cancel embargoed budget briefings with reporters that had been scheduled for Feb. 10. Administration sources said the White House did not give agencies a reason for canceling the briefings.

Budget briefings planned for today (Feb. 13) — many of them to be televised or webcast — are still going forward.

NASA is scheduled to roll out its budget in a televised briefing from the agency’s headquarters here at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), the same time the Air Force is scheduled to brief reporters at the Pentagon on its 2013 spending proposal.

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Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/13/nasa-funding-cuts-coming-space-exploration-to-suffer/

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NASA Image of the day

First American Woman in Space

 
On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7. As one of the three mission specialists on the STS-7 mission, she played a vital role in helping the crew deploy communications satellites, conduct experiments and make use of the first Shuttle Pallet Satellite. In this image, Dr. Ride sits in the aft flight deck mission specialist's seat during deorbit preparations. › Read more about Sally Ride's historic flight. Image Credit: NASA
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