To no one’s surprise, President Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday night made no mention of the Vision for Space Exploration or space policy in general. The closest he came was this promise to double federal funding of “basic research” efforts:
First, I propose to double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. This funding will support the work of America’s most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources.
So does “basic research” include space in any way? That was part of a question one person posed to White House science advisor John Marburger in an online chat yesterday on the White House web site. Dr. Marburger’s response [emphasis added]:
The American Competitiveness Initiative identifies three priority agencies that are critical to basic research in the physical sciences that provides the foundation for future economic competitiveness. Areas like nanotechnology, information technology, materials science, and quantum coherence will be an important part of the initiative. Particle physics and space exploration are important, but not necessarily a focus of the Initiative.
I’d take that to be a “no”.
The VSE is a good idea, but the execution has been less than stellar. I think the VSE’s lack of high standing in Bush’s priorities just add more weight to the argument that the real movers in space for the next decade or so will be the start-ups.
Frankly, I think marginalizing NASA enough for the start-ups to make the big advances may be a good thing. Then NASA could better be placed as the R&D division of the US space effort and not be the monolithic “everything in space belongs to me” stale colossus it is today.
When looking at politics, what politicians say in speeches is not nearly as important as what they say in budget proposals. Bush hasn’t mentioned the VSE since his initial announcement two years ago, but the money (some of it, anyway) has been there in the budget proposals. I would prefer to have it a priority both in his major public addresses and in the budget, but if I have to choose between the two, I’ll choose the budget.