Senate Appropriations Report on NASA - Space Science
On September 9, the full Senate Appropriations Committee sent to the floor its version of H.R. 2491, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1994. A floor vote is expected either September 20 or 21. The bill is accompanied by a 208-page report specifying the Senate Appropriations Committee’s recommendations; selected portions pertaining to NASA are highlighted in this FYI.
SPACE SCIENCE
“The Committee recommends the following changes from the budget request:
-$35,900,000 from the advanced x-ray astrophysics facility [AXAF] project. Funds should be taken from the AXAF-S mission only, resulting in its termination.
+$22,500,000 for mission operations and data analysis for physics, astronomy, and planetary science missions, subject to the normal reprogramming guidelines. The highest priority allocation of funds should go for activities connected with the repair of the Hubble space telescope, and subsequent data analysis of information from HST once the upcoming repair mission is complete.
+$64,300,000 for the Discovery planetary program. This will provide a total of $132,400,000 for Discovery missions in fiscal year 1994.
+$1,000,000 for a grant to the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a study on the desirability of creating a national institute of space science within NASA.
+$50,000,000 for space science activities connected with additional cooperation between the United States and Russia. The Committee is aware of a series of possible missions with the Russians and directs NASA to put together a list of science missions, after consultation with the appropriate professional science panels and organizations for input and evaluation of various proposals...”
“AXAF-S mission -- The Committee reluctantly proposes termination of AXAF-S due to budget constraints imposed on the NASA budget as a result of the administration’s technology package and additional joint cooperation with the Russian Space Agency. Should additional funds be identified prior to conference with the House, the Committee will consider taking up the issue with the House at that time...”
“Hubble space telescope -- The Committee is troubled by opinions expressed by some members of the scientific community that operations on the Hubble space telescope [HST] should be terminated 5 years earlier than its planned 15-year-on-orbit mission. The Committee believes that Hubble should continue to operate so long as it provides useful, credible data for scientific review and analysis. Upon completion of the successful repair of the spacecraft, NASA, at an appropriate time, should convene an independent panel, through the National Academy of Science, whose members have no personal or institutional stake in the great observatory missions that might follow the HST, to make recommendations about the appropriate length of observation for which NASA should continue to support this mission.”
“Discovery program -- The funds provided for the Discovery program are included subject to certain conditions. First, that initiation of both the near Earth asteroid rendezvous [NEAR] and the Mars MESUR pathfinder missions both commence, with allocations of $66,200,000 each. Up to $5,000,000 of the MESUR funds may be transferred to space research and technology for microrover technology development. Second, that each mission be capped at a total development cost of $150,000,000 plus inflation from the first year of development. Third, that future funding profiles beyond fiscal year 1994 be developed in accordance with those outlined by the Solar System Exploration Division strategic plan for discovery-class activities, giving scientific objectives the highest priority. And fourth, that should any Discovery mission exceed its project cap, it shall be terminated immediately.”
“Cassini -- Full funding, $266,600,000, is included for the Cassini mission...”
“The future of space science -- The Committee has included $1,000,000 for the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a comprehensive and independent review of the role and position of space science within NASA. It will come as no surprise that the Committee did not support or recommend the dismantling of the Office of Space Science and Applications. The contributions made by that office in strategic planning, cross disciplinary priority setting, and management controls were among the best that the Federal Government has ever undertaken in any of its many scientific components. Given the administration’s desire to reinvent Government, the Committee believes the time has come to seriously consider the creation of an institute for space science that would serve as an umbrella organization within NASA to coordinate and oversee all space science activities, not just those in physics, astronomy, and planetary exploration. Such an institute could function just as the National Institutes of Health now does within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Committee recognizes that there are certain tradeoffs in the creation of any new entity. The Academy should look at mechanisms for priority setting across disciplines on the basis of scientific merit, better means to include advanced technology in science missions, and ways to permit less developed scientific disciplines to have a means of proving their value, despite skepticism about them in the more established scientific fields.”
LIFE AND MICROGRAVITY SCIENCES AND APPLICATIONS
“The Committee makes the following changes to the budget request:
+$20,000,000 for flight- and ground-based experiments in connection with the NASA-NIH protocol...”
