NASA is planning a major new mission to the outer solar system, along with three new robotic missions to the Moon, and two new Earth science missions, according to its 2009 budget request.
President George W Bush requested a total of $17.614 billion dollars for the agency in fiscal year 2009, up 2.9% over NASA鈥檚 actual budget for 2008.
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Some highlights of the budget include:
聲 $2.6 billion to purchase crew and cargo flights to the space station during the gap between the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 and the first planned flights of NASA鈥檚 Orion spacecraft in 2015
聲 a commitment to a major mission to the outer planets in the $3 billion price range
聲 three new robotic missions to the Moon
聲 a boost for Earth science, including money for two new space missions
聲 cancellation of the 鈥淣ew Millennium鈥� programme, which tested advanced technologies for use in space missions
聲 a new small space mission to study extrasolar planets
On the science side, NASA鈥檚 budget is down $264.7 million compared to 2008, but that is because responsibility for space communication, including operation of ground-based radio dishes, has been transferred from the agency鈥檚 science division to its space operations branch. After accounting for this, NASA鈥檚 science budget is up 1% compared to 2008 鈥� in line with previous projections.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e really turning some heads with this budget,鈥� says Alan Stern, NASA鈥檚 associate administrator for science. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really looking forward to executing this exciting programme if Congress will approve it.鈥�
NASA has committed to funding a major new robotic mission to the outer solar system, to launch in 2016 or 2017. Three concepts are competing for this money.
One would see a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter鈥檚 moon Europa; it would use ground-penetrating radar to probe the depth of the ocean suspected to be locked beneath the moon鈥檚 icy surface. Another would see a lander, orbiter and balloon-borne robot exploring Saturn鈥檚 moon, Titan. The third would see a spacecraft fly by several of Jupiter鈥檚 moons and go into orbit around its largest, Ganymede.
Mixed bag
Closer to home, a total of $344 million is earmarked for three new robotic missions to the Moon to be launched by 2014. These include an orbiting spacecraft called the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) and two small landers to act as geophysical monitoring stations on the Moon.
NASA鈥檚 Earth science division is spending $910 million over the next five years to develop new Earth science spacecraft, including a mission studying soil moisture called SMAP and a mission to monitor changes in polar ice called ICESat II.
For extrasolar planet research, NASA鈥檚 2009 budget request is a mixed bag. The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), designed to study light from planets circling other stars, has been deleted from the 2009 budget, even though the US congress forced NASA to reinstate the mission, which had been axed in the 2008 budget request.
鈥楤ig improvement鈥�
On the other hand, NASA is providing $272 million over the next five years towards a new medium-scale space mission to study extrasolar planets, with a scaled-down version of SIM being considered as one possibility.
On the downside, NASA is largely shutting down its New Millenium programme starting in 2009. The programme, which received $26 million in 2008, was tasked to prove cutting-edge technologies for space missions, such as the ion engines used on the Dawn spacecraft, and artificial intelligence software used on the Mars rovers.
Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, based in Pasadena, California, US, noted a big improvement to NASA鈥檚 science budget compared to the situation he described as 鈥渆xtremely depressing鈥� in 2006, when NASA signalled serious cuts to science with its 2007 budget request. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a major step and positive step forward,鈥� he told New 杏吧原创.
He was particularly pleased with the investment in the outer planet flagship mission and the two new Earth science missions.
But he feels the Mars programme has been given short shrift, saying the agency has made no commitment for any robotic Mars lander for an entire decade following the Mars Science Laboratory, to launch in 2009.
Bridging the gap
The proposal鈥檚 $2.6 billion for flights to the ISS could be spent on flights of both commercial space vehicles and flights of vehicles operated by other countries during the five-year gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and its replacement. But NASA says it would prefer to rely on commercial space vehicles made in the US.
鈥淲e would like to buy commercial services first,鈥� says William Gerstenmaier, NASA鈥檚 associate administrator for space operations. 鈥淥ur focus has been, how can we use that to buy commercially 鈥� and buy domestically, if possible.鈥�
But it is not clear how much commercial capability will be available by 2010. So NASA has already purchased some flights of the Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles, and says it may also buy flights of the European Space Agency鈥檚 ATV and Japan鈥檚 HTV spacecraft to service the space station.
