NASA FY94 Budget Request: An Overview
The fiscal year 1994 budget request for NASA is $15.265 billion, an increase of $934.6 million, or 6.5%, above the 1993 appropriation of $14.330 billion. Within this first budget request developed under NASA administrator Daniel Goldin, the emphasis has changed and some details remain unresolved. At the agency’s budget briefing, Goldin echoed Clinton’s mantra for change and increased investment in new technologies. Saying that NASA was “too much into human space flight,” Goldin has proposed increased funding for technology development at the expense of the space station. He has also made reductions in some existing programs and increased funding for others.
Within the total request, funding for some programs is uncertain. The details hinge on the outcome of the space station restructuring exercise, now set for completion by June 7. The way the FY94 budget request is organized, the space station is included in a line item with new technology investments. A total of $2.3 billion has been requested for the two programs for FY94, with the balance between space station funds and money for new technologies unknown until the station redesign is completed.
The space station redesign team is looking at three options: designs costing $5 billion, $7 billion, and $9 billion over the five-year period from FY94 to FY98. President Clinton reportedly wants $4 billion set aside for new technology investments during that period. It is expected that if the $9 billion space station option is chosen, NASA will have to draw from its other programs to make up the full $4 billion for new technologies. Space science is probably the most vulnerable area. (See FYI#56 for details on the space science budget.)
Remarking that it was “not feasible for us to continue spending at the rate we were going,” Goldin has made some significant changes from previous years. Through the Red Team/Blue Team exercises he conducted last summer and other efficiencies, he announced at the agency’s budget briefing that NASA has cut $23.8 billion in its projected costs through FY98. As part of these reductions, space science programs such as AXAF, Cassini, and EOS have been restructured to reduce costs, and the National Launch System (NLS) and Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) have been terminated, at least for the near future. Goldin argued that while the nation needs a new launch system, NASA “can’t declare a solution by spending a lot of money.” He wants the agency to “take a pause” to work out the necessary technologies before starting a multi-billion dollar program. On SEI, Goldin also said the nation was “not ready . . . we don’t have the technology to do it for tens of billions rather than hundreds of billions.”
Having achieved a projected savings of $23.8 billion, Goldin then added back $8.1 billion over the five-year period in new content, including funding for Gravity Probe B, the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM), shuttle improvements, aeronautics, and the new technology investments. Goldin called aeronautics “absolutely crucial to high-tech jobs.” He said of the new technology funding: “Every nickel we take out of the space station . . . will go into technology investments in the future,” including not just aerospace technologies but those in automobiles, plastics, and textiles as well.
The reason the ASRM received funding, Goldin said, was to provide extra launch capability, particularly if the restructured space station is designed for a different orbit. There is a possibility that a cooperative venture with the Russians will require the station to be launched into the orbit of the Russian station, MIR. The Russians have been asked to participate, as consultants, in the redesign effort, and the use of MIR and other Russian space assets is reportedly being considered. The Russian cooperation is being coordinated through the East-West Space Science Center at the University of Maryland, under the direction of Roald Sagdeev, former director of the Soviet planetary exploration institute.
Future FYIs will report on the results of the space station redesign, and the implications for other NASA programs
