President Bush has requested a total of $15.5 billion for NASA for
FY 2004. This is 3.1% greater than the Administration had requested
for FY 2003, and 3.8% more than the space agency received in FY 2002.
Due to the recent shuttle Columbia tragedy, NASA Administrator Sean
O'Keefe did not provide the customary public briefing on the budget
request. Agency budget documents state that "the budget is restructured
to reflect the Strategic Plan," and "program budgets have
been revamped to reflect full cost," including the costs of personnel
and facilities. Highlighted initiatives include "breakthrough nuclear
propulsion and power systems that will be demonstrated on an ambitious
mission to Jupiter's moons; revolutionary communications technologies...;
constellations of networked spacecraft that will probe the edge of black
holes and the dark energy that is expanding the universe; research into
the human factors of space travel...; research into climate change targeted
at high priority policy issues; new aeronautics technologies...; and
education programs to expand the number of students pursuing science
and engineering careers."
Because the FY 2003 appropriations process has not been completed,
it is difficult to place the FY 2004 request in context. One way to
look at the FY 2004 request is to compare it to NASA's FY 2002 operating
plan, which is based on a final appropriation, to see how funding would
change over this two-year period. In most cases below, FY 2004 request
levels have been compared with both the FY 2003 request and the FY 2002
funding level.
Space Science funding would grow a significant amount by either measure.
Biological and Physical Research would also experience a healthy increase,
while Earth Science funding would drop from both the FY 2002 level and
the FY 2003 request. The Space Flight Enterprise would fall from the
FY 2002 level, remaining essentially the same as the FY 2003 request.
Please note that the FY 2003 and FY 2004 requested amounts are shown
in the "full cost" format (including such costs as personnel
and facilities), but the FY 2002 levels are not, so comparisons between
the FY 2004 request and the FY 2002 funding levels may not be exact.
In addition, no one yet knows what impact the shuttle catastrophe and
ensuing investigation will have on NASA's budget request.
Details of selected NASA programs, with explanatory quotes from NASA
budget documents, are provided below:
SPACE SCIENCE ENTERPRISE: $4,007 million; up 39.8% from NASA's
FY 2002 operating plan; up 15.5% from the FY 2003 request.
The Space Science Enterprise "seeks to answer fundamental questions
about life in the universe." It comprises the five themes below:
- Solar System Exploration: The FY 2004 request of $1,359 million
includes funds for the Messenger, Dawn and Deep Impact missions currently
in development; exploration of the outer solar system planets including
the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt; and astrobiology
research to seek life on other planets. New initiatives include the
Project Prometheus mission to Jupiter's icy moons and an optical communications
initiative.
- Mars Exploration: The FY 2004 request of $570 million includes
funds for development of a 2005 Reconnaissance Orbiter, a 2007 Scout
Mission, a 2009 Mars Smart Rover/Lander, and a new 2009 telecommunications
satellite around Mars.
- Astronomical Search for Origins: The request of $877 million
supports Hubble Space Telescope operations, servicing and retrieval
missions, as well as development of a James Webb Space Telescope to
"build on the legacy of Hubble" and a Space Interferometry
Mission.
- Structure and Evolution of the Universe: The $432 million
request includes funds for development of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope (GLAST) and a new "Beyond Einstein" initiative to
investigate unanswered questions about black holes and the Big Bang.
- Sun-Earth Connections: The $770 million request supports
development of STEREO, a Solar Dynamics Observatory, and future flight
missions.
EARTH SCIENCE ENTERPRISE: $1,552 million; down 4.5% from NASA's
FY 2002 operating plan; down 3.6% from the FY 2003 request.
The Earth Science Enterprise "seeks to understand and protect
our home planet," and comprises the two themes below:
- Earth System Science: The FY 2004 request of $1,477 million
reflects a decrease from the FY 2003 request, "driven primarily
by major development programs that are past their peak development spending
and are preparing for launches...including AURA, Cloudsat, and Calipso."
The request includes funds for the NPOESS (joint NASA-NOAA-DOD) Preparatory
Project, the Landsat data continuity mission, climate change research
and modeling "to aid policy and economic decision-makers,"
and to accelerate certain aspects of the Climate Change Research Initiative.
- Earth Science Applications: This theme, with a request of
$75 million, has been "completely revamped to focus on 12 specific
applications of national priority where other agencies' decision support
systems can be markedly improved based on NASA-provided data and information."
BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: $973 million; up
18.7% from NASA's FY 2002 operating plan; up 6.6% from the FY 2003 request.
This Enterprise conducts research "to address opportunities and
challenges of human exploration of space." The FY 2004 request
includes $39 million for a new Human Research Initiative and responds
to last year's Research Maximization and Prioritization (ReMAP) study.
The three themes are as follows:
- Biological Sciences Research: The FY 2004 request of $359
million supports Fundamental Space Biology and Bioastronautics Research.
- Physical Sciences Research: The $353 million request responds
to the ReMAP study by realigning funds and providing adequate levels
of reserves for high priority areas of Space Station research operations
and hardware development.
- Research Partnerships and Flight Support: The $261 million
request includes funding for Space Product Development and additional
research/logistics missions to Space Station.
SPACE FLIGHT ENTERPRISE: $6,110 million; down 10.5% from NASA's
FY 2002 operating plan; up 0.1% from the FY 2003 request.
This enterprise "provides many critical enabling capabilities
that make possible much of the science, research, and exploration achievements
of the rest of the Agency." The request includes $3,968 million
for the Space Shuttle, $434 million for Space and Flight Support, and
$1,707 million for the International Space Station. Regarding the Space
Station, the budget documents state that "funding drops as planned
as development activities near an end and on-orbit operations and research
becomes the focus of the program.... The Space Station program is well
on its way to completing work on the U.S. Core Complete configuration...and
the last U.S. flight element is scheduled for delivery to NASA by the
spring of 2003." However, it is unknown how the Columbia tragedy
will affect the budget and schedule of NASA's space flight programs,
including completion of Space Station construction.
The FY 2004 request for NASA's EDUCATION ENTERPRISE is $170
million. The request for this Enterprise supports minority university
research and education, the Educator Astronaut Program, the Explorer
Schools Program, Scholarships for Service, the Explorer Institutes,
and continuation of the Space Grant/EPSCOR programs and pipeline development
programs.
Details of the FY 2004 NASA request and supporting materials can be
found at http://www.nasa.gov/about/budget.
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