NSF FY 1995 Budget Request: Astronomical Sciences

The National Science Foundation has requested a 5.2 percent increase for the Astronomical Sciences Subactivity budget for fiscal year 1995. This increase of $5.50 million would bring funding up to $111.92 million, allocated as follows:

Astronomy Research Project Support. FY 1993 (last year) funding: $36.09 million; FY 1994 Current Plan: $40.99 million; FY 1995 Request: Up 5.4% to $43.19 million.

National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center. FY 1993 funding: $9.69 million; FY 1994 Current Plan: $8.60 million; FY 1995 Request: Up 4.7% to $9.0 million.

National Optical Astronomy Observatories. FY 1993 funding: $27.60 million; FY 1994 Current Plan: $27.49 million; FY 1995 Request: Up 4.7% to $28.79 million.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory. FY 1993 funding: $29.81 million; FY 1994 Current Plan: $29.34 million; FY 1995 Request: Up 5.5% to $30.94 million.

The facilities supported by the Astronomy Subactivity budget are listed above.

In the budget document provided to Congress, NSF details its request as follows:

"$2.20 million increase for Research Project Support to a total of $43.19 million. This will provide for continued development of adaptive optics systems for moderate aperture telescopes, for development of optical interferometers and for developing enhanced interactions between the academic and industrial sectors through postdoctoral fellowships.”

"$400,000 increase for NAIC [National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center] to a total of $9.00 million. This will provide for development of instrumentation to take advantage of the capabilities of the upgraded Arecibo Telescope.”

"$1.30 million increase for NOAO [National Optical Astronomy Observatories] to a total of $28.79 million. The increases are for operations and maintenance of the observatories, with particular emphasis on infrastructure support, including instrumentation development and deployment for exploration of solar influences in Global Change.”

"$1.60 million increase for NRAO [National Radio Astronomy Observatory] to a total of $30.94 million. The increases are for operations and maintenance of existing telescopes, for instrumentation, and for enhanced operations of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).”

Note that additional astronomy funding is provided through the Major Research Equipment budget.