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AAS Pushing NASA To Rethink Its FY 2007 Budget

The James Webb Space Telescope remains a priority at a time of NASA science budget cuts. Image credit: NASA
by Phil Berardelli
SpaceDaily US Editor
Washington DC (SPX) May 05, 2006
The American Astronomical Society, unsatisfied with some of the specifics of NASA's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget, has been urging the agency to rethink its priorities and reconstitute some of the space science programs it had decided to eliminate, postpone or curtail.

The proposed budget, which was submitted to Congress by NASA last February, would cut $3 billion from both the agency's planned exploration of the solar system and its space science research programs.

The society's efforts seem to be working, however, because NASA has reconvened its science advisory committee and subcommittees to provide some critical advice about budgetary decisions, both for this fiscal year and for the future.

"We applaud NASA for reconstituting the advisory subcommittees and the fact that administrator Griffin himself attended (Wednesday) to get input from them," Kevin B. Marvel, deputy executive officer of the American Astronomical Society, told SpaceDaily.com. "With input from the (space science) community, informed decisions on the mix in funding can be made, which will be better tolerated by the community."

AAS issued a statement on the NASA budget earlier this week, calling it "disappointing," but the society commended the agency for preserving several high-profile science efforts, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, and for attempting to send a space shuttle mission to repair and extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We have been working on this statement for some time," Robert Kirshner, AAS present, told SpaceDaily.com. "It does coincide with the first meeting of the new NASA advisory panel and with the NAS report of Len Fisk's committee on the NASA budget."

Kirshner said his society tried to focus "on the great opportunities that are being missed. We also would like astronomers to have a chance to help shape the program. This always important, and especially when we need to make difficult choices. The new advisory structure looks a good step in the right direction."

The AAS statement criticized what it called NASA's "sudden and wide-ranging retrenchments (that would) halt, defer or postpone programs to explore the solar system, to observe other solar systems as they form, to detect planets around other stars, to measure gravitational waves from astronomical events, to probe the edges of black holes and to seek the nature of the dark energy."

Large, medium, and small programs alike have been abruptly cut or cancelled, the society continued. "This change has taken place without the broad consultation within the community that we expect when it is necessary to shape NASA's program in times of finite resources. This seems unwise, wasteful of effort, and damaging to the nation's ability to develop its capabilities in science."

Projects currently slated for elimination or indefinite delay include the Europa mission, to Jupiter's intriguing moon with a possible ocean beneath its ice-covered crust; the Terrestrial Planet Finder, a giant space telescope designed to search for Earth-like planets; the Mars Sample Return mission, as well as other activities preceding human exploration of the red planet; the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, intended to provide broadband relay of data from all missions to the planet, including human missions, and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy airborne infrared observatory.

Marvel said his organization views both the diversity of science missions - in terms of size, scope and subject - and the support of basic science research as fundamental priorities for NASA.

"You can't have all large missions, nor all small missions," he said. "A mix is best. You can't do only missions in one area, as knowledge advances on many fronts. You can't do only missions, as basic research is needed to develop new avenues of research and the ideas for new missions."

He said AAS's concern was NASA's budget proposal "went a bit far in trimming this complex diversity picture, and the subcommittees made this loud and clear (Wednesday), when they all responded in their preliminary recommendations that basic (R&D) funding needed to be maintained, not cut."

Marvel said AAS issued its statement this week "because we had finished our assessment of the significant impact of the proposed budget on our field and wanted to positively reinforce the great decision NASA has made to reconstitute an advisory structure as evidenced by the (NASA Advisory Council) subcommittees meeting (Wednesday and Thursday)."

He said his organization is working with supportive members of Congress to increase NASA's budget, which they hope can be accomplished this year despite the tough fiscal constraints.

"There are numerous members of Congress who have spoken out in support of NASA's science efforts and deplored the cuts this year," Marvel said - among them Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Alan Mollohan D-W.Va.), and Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

"We sense strong support on the Hill for an increase to NASA's top line budget, so the agency can accomplish all it has been asked to do while maintaining a science program the American public can be proud of," Marvel said.

AAS, in its statement, told NASA its officers have seen "broad and growing understanding in the Congress, as evidenced by the Protecting America's Competitive Edge (PACE) legislation, that America's future depends on living by our wits in a competitive world. NASA science has been a bright light, helping to inspire an interest in science and engineering for generations of students."

As a consequence, the statement continued, "it is a mistake to suddenly diminish this successful program while it is producing so many good results for NASA and holds such promise for future discovery."

AAS said its members worry that "the proposed cuts in NASA's support for science more than offset the increases that have been aimed at improving America's competitiveness through support for the same type of work by the (National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and National Institute of Standards and Technology). A coherent effort to improve science and engineering in the US would treat NASA's science program as part of the solution."

The statement said the society's members were prepared to work with NASA and Congress to increase NASA's science budget by 10 percent per year over the next five years. "We are prepared to work diligently to make the most of NASA's investment in science," it concluded.

"If the White House and Congress are serious about improving American competitiveness through better funding of important science and engineering, cutting the NASA science budget while boosting the NSF, DOE and NIST is not helpful to astronomy," Kirshner said. "It is our experience that astronomy is an especially visible and accessible form of science that has a good impact on the public and benefits educational efforts, too."

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