NASA « Space Politics

$3-billion model airplanes

By Jeff Foust on 2006 March 16 at 7:11 am ET

The online publication American Chronicle features an op-ed by Scott Bannon, who describes himself as a “conservative liberal” (as opposed, one imagines, to a “liberal conservative”) about Republicans’ recent spendthrift proclivities. Mr. Bannon offers several solutions to the problem, including this:

Kill NASA. Hey, I love the idea of space exploration and am an avid […]

Scientists in revolt

By Jeff Foust on 2006 March 15 at 6:45 am ET

I was telling someone yesterday that the scientific community appeared to be in “open revolt” against NASA’s planned cutbacks in space science funding. That assessment is only slightly hyperbolic: SPACE.com and Astronomy report on “NASA night” at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. SPACE.com called the event “a powder-keg of emotion”, as NASA’s […]

Science- versus mission-based NASA

By Jeff Foust on 2006 March 6 at 7:19 am ET

In an article in this week’s issue of The Space Review, Brian Dewhurst looks at the roots of the current spirited debate about science funding at NASA. In his examination, NASA shifted from a “mission agency” to a “science agency” in the 1990s, when NASA had no major long-term goals beyond assembling the ISS and […]

What should NASA be doing?

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 13 at 6:30 am ET

That’s a topic I try to tack in an article in The Space Review this week. The genesis of this article came from a number of events, from the release of the NASA budget last week to editorials last month (some of which should be familiar to regular readers of this blog) about the relative […]

Is NASA becoming politicized?

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 13 at 6:19 am ET

That the question asked by an Orlando Sentinel article Sunday that compiles a considerable amount in evidence to suggest the answer is “yes”. In addition to the recent controversy involving media access to climate researcher James Hansen, Michael Cabbage identifies a number of other events, from campaign appearances by former administrator Sean O’Keefe to the […]

TPF and Europa Orbiter: a tale of two unfunded missions

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 12 at 3:11 pm ET

A lot of attention in the week since the release of NASA’s FY2007 budget proposal as been on cuts to NASA’s science programs. Two efforts that have attracted a lot of attention have been the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and a Europa orbiter. The former has been “deferred indefinitely”, while NASA did not include a […]

Planetary scientists protest NASA operating plan

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 10 at 5:41 am ET

Some members of the planetary science community are upset about both NASA’s FY07 budget proposal as well as the agency’s FY06 operating plan, which explains how NASA plans tweak its FY06 appropriation. The argument made by Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, is that NASA is cutting solar system research programs […]

Local reaction to the NASA budget

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 7 at 1:11 pm ET

Not surprisingly, the reaction in local media at NASA’s field centers to the proposed FY07 budget fell into two camps. If your center is involved with shuttle, ISS, or the exploration program, you were, if not happy, then at least satisfied. Aeronautics and space science? Not so much.

First, the happy campers:

NASA’s decision to […]

More budget details

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 6 at 7:09 pm ET

NASA held a press conference Monday afternoon to provide more details about the FY07 budget submission, in conjunction with the release of detailed budget documents. (Be warned that the “Full Document” weighs in at 451 pages; it’s going to take some time to digest.)

Arguably the biggest news to come out the press briefing […]

FY07 budget: first look

By Jeff Foust on 2006 February 6 at 11:59 am ET

The President’s FY2007 budget proposal has been officially released, including a six-page discussion of the NASA budget. This document offers only a few details; more information will have to wait until NASA’s budget press conference later today. One detail included in the budget narrative is that the budget “further trims the space nuclear program, which […]

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