Appearing at his at his first Congressional appropriations hearing for the agency's $16.5 billion 2006 budget last week, new NASA administrator Michael Griffin spoke of deferring and cancelling missions, heavylift vehicle development, tighter budget control and the future of the Space Shuttle.
To cope with the budgetary pressures of return to flight (RTF) and vehicle development, Griffin wants to defer astronomy and robotic Mars exploration projects; cancel the Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter (JIMO) mission; develop reduced Space Shuttle flight schedules; repair the Hubble Space Telescope; use a Shuttle-derived launcher for heavylift; and create a new office of plans, analysis and evaluation for better budget control.
The office would examine existing and past programmes and push for better management of the requested budget, which shows a 2.4% increase on financial year 2005.
JIMO will be replaced by a lunar nuclear power unit development project and the 2011 Mars Science Lab will be delayed. Griffin spoke of a need for a core 18 Shuttle flights, including a mission to repair Hubble, but only if the RTF missions show it is safe.
Source: Flight International
