A detailed budget request is not expected before April. The US Senate is now considering the bill.Ĭlimate change research and monitoring tops the list of funding highlights in the overview of NASA’s budget request, but the budget for specific agency programmes is not included. NASA’s science budget would decline $200 million from 2008 levels. It calls for a $360 million increase in the agency’s human exploration budget, which includes $2.9 billion for the Constellation programme. NASA has been operating at 2008 funding levels under a continuing resolution since October 2008.īut on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed an omnibus bill to fund NASA for 2009. The agency’s 2009 budget has not yet been settled. The budget would also likely be a boost over 2009 funding levels. “Between the proposed increase and the stimulus package, NASA’s $2.4 billion better off than it was last year.” “It’s a nice number,” Logsdon told New Scientist. Combined with $1 billion in funding provided in an economic stimulus package signed into law last week, NASA would get $2.4 billion more than it did in 2008. Under the proposed budget, the agency would receive $18.7 billion in 2010. “The direction we have at the current time is, ‘Proceed as you were,'” says agency spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz. Indeed, NASA is planning to stay the course – at least for now. That’s really up to the the new management team, when it gets there.” “I wouldn’t interpret the absence of the words ‘Constellation’, ‘Ares’, and ‘Orion’ one way or another. “The budget doesn’t say a whole lot about any specific system,” says John Logsdon, a space policy analyst at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. NASA’s former chief, Mike Griffin, was a staunch supporter of the Constellation programme, but he resigned in January and his successor has not yet been named. Some argue that existing rockets, such as the Atlas V or Delta IV currently used to loft spacecraft, would be better alternatives, while others back a new design. President Donald Trump has submitted his proposed 2020 NASA budget and one message is very clear: The American space priority is a human presence on the moon and one that is established fast. Obama’s transition team was reported to have raised questions about the programme’s Ares rockets, which have been plagued by design concerns that include excess vibrations. However, the document does not specify whether the Moon return will be accomplished by NASA’s Constellation programme, which aims to build a crew capsule called Orion and rockets called Ares to replace the shuttle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |