The 109th Congress has adjourned, and in less than a month Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, the outgoing chairman of the House Science Committee, will be retired. However, he’s not completely done with his work on the Hill. On Monday he released a letter he sent last week to OMB Director Rob Portman with some requests for funding for science programs in the FY 2008 budget proposal, due to be released in a little under two months. In particular, he said that NASA science programs need additional funding:
Most important, NASA’s science programs, which are its most successful and beneficial programs, must continue to thrive. The earth science program in particular is in danger of atrophying. At the very, very least, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate must receive at least as much as was projected in the runout in the fiscal 2007 budget. Moreover, the “bread and butter” funding for NASA science, known as Research and Analysis, must be the top priority for funding.
Overall, he said, “NASA needs additional funding if it is to move ahead with both the Vision for Space Exploration and the space science, earth science and aeronautics research required by the NASA Authorization Act of 2005.” However, he added that there’s no need to accelerate development of Orion, something that NASA has already concluded was unlikely. Expects others on Capitol Hill, though, to continue to raise concerns about the “gap” between the 2010 shuttle retirement and the 2014 introduction of Orion.
Boehlert also added that two NOAA satellite programs, NPOESS and GOES-R, need both “adequate funding” and “rigorous oversight”. NPOESS, as you may recall, got a lot of attention from Boehlert and others in Congress because of huge cost increases and schedule delays. “NPOESS still needs close monitoring as it tries to get back on track, and GOES-R needs to be managed in a way that ensures that it will not follow in NPOESS’ footsteps.”
