FY20 Appropriations Bills: NASA
NASA has continued to operate on fiscal year 2019 funding levels since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1, but most parts of the agency’s science portfolio are not in line for major changes when its appropriation finally arrives. In June, the House passed a spending bill for NASA that would raise the budget of its Science Mission Directorate by 4% to $7.16 billion in fiscal year 2020. Last month, Senate appropriators approved their counterpart bill, which would keep the science budget level.
The biggest outstanding questions concern the Astrophysics Division. The Senate’s spending proposal for the flagship Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) would offer less than what NASA has indicated the mission needs to keep on schedule. In addition, the Senate’s proposal would leave many of the division’s smaller-budget programs potentially in line for cuts.
The Senate is, though, proposing a 23% infusion to NASA’s human exploration activities in response to the agency’s supplemental budget request for its Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon in 2024, four years earlier than previously planned. But even those resources would not match the amount NASA asked for to jumpstart the development of a crewed lunar lander. Although House appropriators did not respond to the request in their spending proposal, they are still considering the matter. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Ken Bowersox, NASA’s acting head of human exploration, will make their case to them at a hearing next week.
In their reports on their respective bills, the House and Senate appropriations committees specify priorities and spending levels for a number of individual missions and programs. Detailed figures concerning many of these proposals are collected in the FYI Federal Science Budget Tracker .
Astrophysics
The House and Senate respectively propose a 15% and 7% increase in the current $1.5 billion combined budget of the NASA Astrophysics Division and James Webb Space Telescope, which is funded through a separate account. The boosts would be more than accounted for by spending increases directed specifically to JWST and WFIRST. Exclusive of those missions, the current $879 million budget for the rest of the Astrophysics portfolio would decline 3% under the House proposal and 17% under the Senate proposal
James Webb Space Telescope. The House proposes to increase funding for JWST from its enacted appropriation of $305 million to $353 million, whereas the Senate proposes an increase to $423 million. The upward adjustments represent the funding needed to accommodate the cost overrun NASA announced last year. The difference between the proposals corresponds to an additional $70 million that NASA planned to divert in fiscal year 2019 in lieu of starting work on a medium-scale “probe-class” mission. The Senate proposes to rescind that $70 million from the Science Mission Directorate’s fiscal year 2019 budget and provide it to JWST in fiscal year 2020 instead.
Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope. The House proposes ramping up the budget for WFIRST from $312 million to $511 million. Meanwhile, Senate appropriators propose $446 million and reiterate previous years’ directions that the project should adhere to a $3.2 billion cost cap. They also state in their report, “To reduce mission costs and ensure that overlap with the James Webb Space Telescope is maximized, NASA should implement the most efficient development program for the telescope and its instruments.” They note the project “includes a 30% reserve for a telescope that is already built.” Construction has not yet begun on WFIRST, though its mirror is complete as it was originally crafted for a surveillance satellite that was not built.
Just before the Senate report’s release, Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz told the interagency Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee on Sept. 26 that the House proposal “matches what we need to stay on the most efficient schedule,” and that it would represent the project’s peak spending level. He further suggested less funding would cause project delays that would ultimately lead to higher costs, saying the “rule of thumb” is that deferred costs should be multiplied by three.
Planetary Science
After more than doubling since fiscal year 2014 to its current level of $2.76 billion, the Planetary Science Division’s budget appears set to level off, with the House proposing a 2% decrease and the Senate a 5% decrease.
Europa lander. The House proposes no new funding for a lander mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa that was championed by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), who chaired the House appropriations subcommittee for NASA before his defeat in last year’s election. However, the House report states that appropriators still consider the mission a “priority” and want to “see research and development of the lander continue.” The report suggests that funds already appropriated should be sufficient to continue work in the coming year and directs NASA to include the project in its fiscal year 2021 budget request. The House also proposes increasing the budget for the “Icy Satellites Surface Technology” program from $35 million to $60 million, partly to “enable a lander on Europa by the next decade.”
The House also retains a statutory requirement from prior years that the lander launch “no later than 2025” using a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. An audit that NASA released this year found that the 2025 launch goal is “not feasible,” that an SLS rocket capable of launching the lander would not be available anytime soon, and that the mission was not recommended in the most recent planetary science decadal survey. The Senate report and bill do not mention the lander.
Europa Clipper. The House meets NASA’s request for $593 million for the Europa Clipper mission, which is to make more than 40 flybys of the moon. Although the Senate does not specify a funding level for the mission, both its bill and the House’s include statutory direction to launch it aboard an SLS rocket, which would reduce its transit time to Europa. NASA’s inspector general recently wrote to appropriators asking them to drop this requirement due to the costs it entails and NASA’s plans to use all available SLS rockets for lunar missions through 2024. The House also retains a requirement that the Clipper launch in 2023. The inspector general did not ask Congress to drop that language, though his office has concluded NASA will face considerable challenges in completing work on the spacecraft by then.
Lunar missions. The House meets NASA’s original request for $210 million for lunar science missions, while the Senate meets that figure plus an additional $90 million included in the supplemental request to fund a lunar rover mission ahead of the 2024 crewed landing. The Senate report further directs NASA to follow lunar science priorities set out in the planetary science decadal survey and the 2007 National Academies report, “The Scientific Context for the Exploration of the Moon,” while also meeting exploration needs. The Senate report would also direct NASA to only use “landers and rovers majority-designed, developed, and built in the United States.” NASA’s first anticipated lander, which it later cancelled , was to be based on technology developed in India.
Mars missions. The House and Senate both propose that funding for Mars exploration ramp down from $650 million to $570 million, mainly reflecting the anticipated launch of the flagship Mars 2020 rover next year. The amount is $23 million more than NASA requested. Both the House and Senate reports highlight appropriators’ support for developing a Mars Sample Return mission that would launch in 2026.
Planetary defense. The House and Senate both propose $160 million for planetary defense, $10 million more than requested. The appropriation would fully fund work on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, which is expected to launch in early 2022 and demonstrate the effects of a kinetic impact on the dynamics of a double asteroid system. The House report conveys appropriators’ support for the proposed NEOCam mission, a space-based telescope that would search for near-Earth asteroids. NASA recently announced it will proceed with a similar spacecraft called the NEO Surveillance Mission that it expects would launch in the mid-2020s and cost between $500 million and $600 million to develop.
Green Bank Observatory. The Senate report notes, “Green Bank retains unique capabilities that can augment missions across NASA that leverage taxpayer investment in the observatory such as near Earth object characterization and support for NASA’s fleet of robotic and human missions.” It directs NASA to conduct a cost and technical evaluation of constructing a “radio frequency transmit capability” at the West Virginia-based observatory, in consultation with the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense.
Earth Science
Congress has rejected repeated proposals from the Trump administration to shave about $150 million from the budget of the Earth Science Division and to cancel several of its Earth-observation projects. This year, the House proposes to increase its budget by about 5% to $2.02 billion, while the Senate proposes a 1% increase.
PACE. One of the missions targeted by the administration for cancellation is the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, which moved into its fabrication phase this summer. Expected to launch no later than January 2024 and to cost $890 million in total, the Senate proposes maintaining its current funding level of $161 million, while the House proposes a ramp down to $147 million.
CLARREO Pathfinder. Another project targeted for cancellation is CLARREO Pathfinder, an instrument for measuring solar radiation reflected from the Earth that is scheduled for installation on the International Space Station in 2023. The Senate proposes to maintain the project’s current funding level of $18 million, while the House proposes a ramp up to $26 million. Its total cost is expected to be about $100 million.
Heliophysics
In recent budget cycles, Congress has provided modest funding increases for the Heliophysics Division, which is responsible for missions related to the Sun and space weather. This year, the House meets the administration’s request for a 2% cut to $705 million while the Senate proposes a 2% increase.
Space weather. The Senate proposes increasing funding for Space Weather Science Applications from $15 million to “no less than” $20 million “to support innovation in observational capabilities and advance research-to-operations, operations-to-research, and computational aspects of space weather mitigation.”
DRIVE Initiative. The Senate report reiterates support conveyed in previous years for the division’s Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate (DRIVE) Initiative and “encourages NASA to implement the goal of increasing the competitive research program to 25% of the Heliophysics budget request to enable the development of new technologies, establish competitively awarded DRIVE Science Centers, support multidisciplinary research collaboration, and support early career investigators.”
Heliophysics technology. The Senate report conveys an appreciation of “the critical role that technology development programs play in enabling novel and transformative capabilities and mission concepts.” Noting that other science divisions operate such programs, the report directs NASA to include one for Heliophysics as its own account line in future budget proposals.
Other matters
STEM education. As in previous years, the House and Senate reject the administration’s proposal to eliminate NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (formerly called the Office of Education), instead proposing to increase its current $110 million budget by 12% and 2%, respectively. The Senate also specifies an increase for the Science Mission Directorate’s STEM education account, which is housed in the Astrophysics budget, from $45 million to at least $46 million.
Nuclear thermal propulsion. The Senate proposes level funding of $100 million for the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s nuclear thermal propulsion technology efforts, specifying that $70 million should go toward a flight demonstration by 2024. The House proposes increasing the program’s budget to $125 million.
Robotic satellite servicing. The Senate and House both propose to maintain the $180 million funding level for RESTORE-L, a technology demonstration mission that will attempt to refuel Landsat 7. The administration has consistently proposed descoping the project and canceling the refueling mission.
In-space robotic manufacturing. The House proposes to nearly double funding for R&D on the manufacture and assembly of spacecraft in space to $72 million, specifying that $14 million should be spent on additive manufacturing.
Collaboration with China. The House and Senate both retain a statutory provision known as the Wolf Amendment that prohibits NASA from pursuing projects in collaboration with China without specific authorization from Congress. The provision was championed by Rep. Culberson following the retirement of its originator, former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), and there had been speculation it might be relaxed or repealed now that Culberson is no longer in Congress.