Comments on: Congressman interviewing Congressmen on planetary science http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/07/20/congressman-interviewing-congressmen-on-planetary-science/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=congressman-interviewing-congressmen-on-planetary-science Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway... Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:35:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 By: vulture4 http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/07/20/congressman-interviewing-congressmen-on-planetary-science/#comment-374159 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:34:04 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/?p=5754#comment-374159 Wolf knows little about space. This was just an opportunity to look like he is responding to a public concern. Of course he is pouring vastly greater funding into SLS/Orion while still strangling commercial spaceflight and attacking NASA for thinking about talking to China.

]]> By: Andrew Gasser http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/07/20/congressman-interviewing-congressmen-on-planetary-science/#comment-374131 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 07:01:53 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/?p=5754#comment-374131 This is actually quite refreshing. However, I wonder if anyone asked Mr. Wolf how he feels about being fiscally responsible with the planetary science budget.

I mean the list of missions busting the budget is starting to grow. That is how we save science, by acknowledging that we have failed in some aspects. JWST is a cancer on SMD.

Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
TEA Party in Space

]]> By: Dark Blue Nine http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/07/20/congressman-interviewing-congressmen-on-planetary-science/#comment-374108 Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:55:07 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/?p=5754#comment-374108 Wolf and his subcommittee havn’t saved anything. No NASA appropriation has been passed by the Senate, which only provided an additional $100 million to the planetary program in committee, not $200 million like the House. And no House bill has been reconciled with the Senate’s version, nevertheless signed into law by the President. Someone is counting their chickens long before they’ve hatched.

And even if Wolf’s subcommittee mark became law (unlikely given that the Senate mark cuts the increase in half), their draft appropriations bill only adds half of what was cut from the planetary program going from FY 2012 (~$1.5 billion) to FY 2013 (~$1.1 billion) anyway. Although the bulk goes to the Mars program, it’s not enough to accelerate the current planning for a 2018-2020 mission to follow MSL — there’s still going to be near-decade-long hiatus in new Mars missions. And the remainder will only buy studies and low-level technology for a Europa mission, at best.

It’s a nice gesture to the decadal survey. But in terms of hard programmatics, the amount involved is window dressing. And it’s still months away from passage, assuming a House/Senate budget standoff, a Congress/White House budget standoff, or sequestration doesn’t throw the federal government into months and months of CRs or make major reductions to NASA’s budget. And again, the Senate thinks the increase should be cut in half.

But hey, why not take credit where credit is not due? Let’s give ourselves a big pat on the back with our smartphones!

Ugh…

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