NASA, White House

An extra billion for NASA in FY11?

An Orlando Sentinel report about yesterday’s Bolden-Obama meeting includes some new details about separate meetings the NASA administrator had on Capitol Hill earlier yesterday. Bolden reportedly told members and staffers that the White House was “favoring” including a $1 billion increase in the agency’s budget in the FY2011 budget proposal to be released early next year. That increase would be roughly consistent with what the Augustine committee proposed in its “less constrained” budget in 2011, but whether that increase would be sustained beyond 2011 (as it is in the Augustine proposal) isn’t mentioned.

The Sentinel report also mentions that the agency has prepared four white papers for the administration: a general report about the agency, technology development, the “challenges” of human Mars exploration, and “the risks of developing commercial rockets and a new heavy launcher”. Bolden also mentioned at the Congressional meetings that he did not expect an “immediate decision” on NASA’s future plans from the White House.

Update 8 pm: a Space News article this afternoon has some more details, including the plans that NASA is proposing to the White House. According to the report, NASA prepared four options for the White House to consider prior to Bolden’s meeting with the president, all of which were variations on the Flexible Path option from the Augustine committee report. And there’s more:

Government and industry sources told Space News that the option favored by senior administration officials would add $1 billion to NASA’s annual budget beginning in 2011, with most of the money designated for human spaceflight programs. It would also scrap the Ares 1 rocket in favor of outsourcing space operations in low Earth orbit to the private sector. Among the other scenarios Bolden went to the meeting prepared to discuss with Obama, these sources said, were options that ranged from either cutting the agency’s budget slightly or holding it flat to giving the agency a $3 billion-a-year increase.

14 comments to An extra billion for NASA in FY11?

  • Anon2

    More studies? How many reports, studies and white papers does Obama need to make a decision? And what will this batch cover that haven’t been covered by the Augustine Committee?

    If Obama was president in 1961 NASA would have probably still be identifying the information needed to prepare to make a decision on making a decision on where to go next….

  • Ben Russell-Gough

    I have to say that I find it very interesting that one of the white papers was on the practicalities of human exploration of Mars. Could President Obama have told Administrator Bolden of his desire to emulate and even eclipse Kennedy? I think that his first State of the Union speech might still contain a surprise or two.

  • Mark R. Whittington

    Ben, that would depend on whether the white papers were written by NASA’s initiative or in response to White House inquiries. If the latter, I agree with you that it is interesting, though mind I am not a big fan of direct lunges at Mars.

  • Robert G. Oler

    Ben Russell-Gough wrote @ December 17th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    I have to say that I find it very interesting that one of the white papers was on the practicalities of human exploration of Mars. Could President Obama have told Administrator Bolden of his desire to emulate and even eclipse Kennedy? ..

    If I was going to change NASA, I would get NASA to tell me how they would go to Mars…and that alone would be enough ammunition for “Me” as the administration to shoot down such a plan period…and that might be where this is headed.

    At some point to really fix NASA, someone needs to take out a political stake and drive it through the heart of “exploration” at least by human spaceflight.

    Anyone who thinks that the American public is all fired up to go back to the Moon or go to Mars is not on this planet in terms of reality.

    Obama’s administration is sinking (or as my friend Brian calls it “the nearer my creator to thee” phase)…and the last thing it needs is for Obama to stand up and talk about a multi billion dollar project to send astronauts somewhere.

    Robert G. Oler

  • NASA Fan

    Robert,
    Could it be that if Obama does go Kennedy-esk on us, say to, God forbid, I can’t believe I’m typing this, Mars….that it would act as a diversion from his other troubles? Get people riled up about a debate on Obama’s Mars plan, to take away from his other , our ours, troubles?

    Nah. He wants to be as informed as possible before making a decision. Not very presidential, but very bookish and nerdy.

  • Dave Cadman - Canada

    with 18 million in the US and 2+million in Canada officially looking for work, and more out of work but given up, North America is in a mess;
    no less than it was when Kennedy made his hail mary pass with that speech everyone lauds; he left Johnson holding the bag, but it could have been a lot worse; that was why Johnson ran with the Space Race to distract the US public;
    so now Obama is in the same boat; and he needs somehow to distract the public and get them thinking positively; too much naval gazing has led North Americans down a depressing path; the tchnology is ripening and a savy person could predict a boom in space, that will dwarf the Communications advances of the past 15 years;
    I see him going forward with an ambitiois Space Policy, but it will be presented low key; we won’t see it coming; no grand statements ala Kennedy or Bush Jr., but a workman like brick by brick unveiling; and when it is done, it will be sustainable, and no future politician will be able to stop it;

  • Doug Lassiter

    “More studies? How many reports, studies and white papers does Obama need to make a decision?”

    Well, it seems that the lesson of the last five years was that a single major several month study wasn’t enough. With an agency leader who likely seeded that study to grow an architecture that he wanted, and commissioned an implementation study (Aldridge report) that he ended up ignoring, we ended up with a plan that is technically viable (as per Augustine committee) but also unexecutable with the real dollar investments that come to bear.

    If I were Obama, I’d be VERY careful, and I’m gratified that he seems to want to be careful.

    The Augustine committee properly provided options, not recommendations. ESAS provided only the latter. When you’ve got options, you have something to sink your teeth into, and you do that tooth sinking before you start cutting metal. So given that we’re not going anywhere for a decade, I’d be happy to see some more careful investment of thought in what to do with my dollars. I’m not too happy with where my dollars have gone thus far. Let the tooth sinking begin.

    If China ends up beating us to take the first digital pictures of the footprints we left on the Moon forty years ago, and mining the first scoop of presently unusable He3, so be it. A vial of He3 is going to be fairly unimpressive in a museum, though. You know, it would be one of those look, but can’t touch deals.

    The idea of using the human space flight program as a distraction for the American public is indeed an interesting one. I suspect that Obama won’t be able to pull that off, though. The idea of a measured but ambitious space policy, with no stupid arbitrary deadlines, is what is needed to assure the most important ingredient of a successful space program — sustainability. I suspect he is capable of making that happen.

  • Robert G. Oler

    NASA Fan wrote @ December 17th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    Robert,
    Could it be that if Obama does go Kennedy-esk on us, say to, God forbid, I can’t believe I’m typing this, Mars….that it would act as a diversion from his other troubles?..

    no. or “Nah” as you say! (grin)

    Someone who is unemployed, who is having trouble finding work because there are fewer and fewer jobs that pay a middle class or someone who is worried that the next paycheck is their last one…or someone who is having trouble with health care is going to say “Wow Obama cant fix that but he is going to crank up billions to go to Mars or go back to the Moon or do (insert something) so my life is OK?”

    not to you, but anyone who thinks that in this day and age is not following events out in, what my friend Brian calls “the colonies”.

    The reason Obama’s numbers are sinking if you look very carefully at the polls cross tabs is that the American people are growing afraid that he is not up to the job. Going to Mars is not going to prove he is.

    Robert g. Oler

  • justanothertaxpayer

    From the ‘outside’ (i.e. not someone involved in the human spaceflight efforts of NASA) this whole thing – the desperate dollar injections by self centered politicians, and the pleas for such – look like throwing bandaids onto a terminally ill patient… First should come the reform and the redefinition of role of NASA HSF, only then funding… But, hey, it’s not a perfect world by a long shot… Good luck with that 1 billion dollars… going down the drain… again.

  • Obama’s problem is his slowness in making hard decisions. But this is his first year in office. So I think folks need to give him a break. And he’s already made some big decisions in Afghanistan and about Guantanamo.

    Hopefully, he’ll make the right decision and return us to the Moon with the fastest and cheapest architecture to develop– the Sidemount Shuttle.

  • SpaceMan

    I`ll bet on our friendly northern neighbor’s suggestions.

    I was around when JFK made his moon speech and remember what the times were like. The mood was worse than now, partly because of the nuclear war threats. Those of you not alive during that era have no idea how deep the fear was. And we are all in much better shape than back then.

    Prepare to be surprised

    Seriously

  • Interesting rumors. I am not entirely sure whether they should be taken seriously, considering the token 1 billion proposed budget increase.
    I am guessing that this might be a feignt to try to attempt to counter Selby’s Constellation provision.

    The Europe+Canada+Japan involvement in a lunar lander + modules goes against Augustine’s recommendationt to scrap Lunar exploraton.
    At least that is promising. The E+C+J moon HW proposal would also work for Ares 1+V.

    I would like to give Obama the benifit of the doubt, although he has been so slow at making decisions, that it is becoming a fairly painful process.

  • Major Tom

    “considering the token 1 billion proposed budget increase”

    $1 billion is $400 million more than what NASA’s budget would need to meet the Augustine Committee goal of a $3 billion increase by the end of the budget runout.

    Adding more than the Augustine Committee target is hardly “token”.

    “The Europe+Canada+Japan involvement in a lunar lander + modules goes against Augustine’s recommendationt to scrap Lunar exploraton.”

    There is no such recommendation in the final report of the Augustine Committee. The report includes Moon First options, as well as Flexible Path options that incorporate lunar landings.

    Read the sources. Don’t make stuff up and spread lies.

    Lawdy…

  • N.A.

    “Adding more than the Augustine Committee target is hardly “token”.”

    It’s a good start, but will Obama come out and say he will continue the billion dollar increases for the next 2 years? And make good on the funding Bush did not… I would like to hear something that also speaks of the future funding and not just this years.

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