Congress, NASA

Conference report adds details to House’s proposed $16.6-billion NASA budget

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee released the committee report accompanying its version of a Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill for fiscal year 2014, in advance of the bill’s markup by the full committee on Wednesday morning. The report adds details on spending levels for key programs within the accounts specified in the bill, as well as other provision. A summary of the appropriations in the overall $16.6-billion appropriations for NASA, as compared to the administration’s bill:

Account Request House CJS draft Difference
SCIENCE $5,017.8 $4,781.0 -$236.8
- Earth Science $1,846.0 $1,659.0 -$187.0
- Planetary Science $1,218.0 $1,315.0 $97.0
- Astrophysics $642.0 $622.0 -$20.0
- JWST $658.0 $584.0 -$74.0
- Heliophysics $654.0 $601.0 -$53.0
SPACE TECHNOLOGY $742.6 $576.0 -$166.6
AERONAUTICS $565.7 $566.0 $0.3
EXPLORATION SYSTEMS $3,915.5 $3,612.0 -$303.5
- SLS/Orion $2,730.0 $2,825.0 $95.0
- Commercial Spaceflight $821.0 $500.0 -$321.0
- Exploration R&D $364.0 $287.0 -$77.0
SPACE OPERATIONS $3,882.9 $3,670.0 -$212.9
- ISS $3,049.0 $2,860.0 -$189.0
- Space and Flight Support $834.0 $810.0 -$24.0
EDUCATION $94.2 $122.0 $27.8
CROSS AGENCY SUPPORT $2,850.3 $2,711.0 -$139.3
CONSTRUCTION, ENVIRO $609.4 $525.0 -$84.4
INSPECTOR GENERAL $37.0 $35.3 -$1.7
TOTAL $17,715.4 $16,598.3 -$1,117.1

House appropriators differed from their authorizing counterparts on the House Science Committee in several areas. While authorizers sought to to cut Earth science funding to $1.2 billion, appropriators are offering more than $1.65 billion for the program: still less than administration’s request of nearly $1.85 billion but still more generous than what authorizers proposed. Appropriators weren’t nearly as generous for planetary sciences, but still offer more funding for it than the original request. The $500 million for commercial crew is also less than both what authorizers proposed ($700 million) or the administration’s request ($821 million).

The report, like the House authorization bill, blocks any spending on NASA’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). “The Committee believes that NASA should take the time to complete further concept studies, pursue the support of Congress through the authorization process and line up support from potential international partners before seeking new resources to carry out the mission,” the report states. “In the interim, the Committee’s recommendation does not include any of the requested increases associated with the asteroid retrieval proposal.”

The report language is critical of the administration’s proposed $1.2 billion for planetary science. “NASA has once again proposed damaging and disproportionate reductions in the Planetary Science budget without any substantive justification,” the report states. At that proposed funding level, “NASA would be unable to meet the major scientific goals of the Planetary Science decadal survey in a timely manner; lose its role as the international leader in the field; drive uniquely qualified and promising talent out of the field, perhaps permanently; and increase the risk level on existing projects due to the inefficient phasing of funds.”

The committee is also concerned that NASA’s work on the Space Launch System (SLS) is not progressing fast enough towards a version with a 130-ton payload capacity. “As a result, the program would likely reach a plateau with the achievement of the 70 metric ton capability,” the report states. “For this reason, the Committee continues to urge NASA to allocate additional funds to SLS elements like advanced booster risk reduction, J2–X engine development and/or upper stage development, all of which are required for the program to progress beyond the initial configuration.”

The report also calls for moving on to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracts for future phases of the commercial crew program and says NASA should make “strategic decisions about the number of industry partners to retain in the certification phase” (which could be interpreted as a call for a downselect to perhaps a single company.) “The overriding purpose of the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is to restore domestic access to the Inter- national Space Station (ISS) as quickly and safely as possible, and the Committee expects that NASA will manage CCP funds in a manner that is consistent with that goal,” the report states, adding that the $500 million it appropriates to the program should be sufficient to conclude the current phase of the program and “a portion” of the follow-on certification contracts phase.

2 comments to Conference report adds details to House’s proposed $16.6-billion NASA budget

  • Dark Blue Nine

    “The committee is also concerned that NASA’s work on the Space Launch System (SLS) is not progressing fast enough towards a version with a 130-ton payload capacity. ‘As a result, the program would likely reach a plateau with the achievement of the 70 metric ton capability,’ the report states.”

    The GAO reported that NASA has deferred work on the 130-ton Block II due to budget pressures and can’t produce a cost estimate for anything after the first, unscrewed launch of the 70-ton Block I in 2017. See p. 69:

    http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653866.pdf

  • Neil Shipley

    NASA still has no idea what SLS/MPCV will actually cost. Either that or more likely they’re ashamed to be associated with perpetrating such on the American taxpayer. No leadership in evidence either. Pathetic really. This program is consigning NASA to irrelevancy for the next several decades unless Congress wakes up and the U.S. really will lose their lead in spaceflight to other countries.

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