NASA's budget is to be reduced for the sixth year running, with more money than ever going towards the International Space Station (ISS).
The agency's fiscal year 2,000 budget request of $13.58 billion, which represents a slight decrease on the FY1999 funding level, includes $2.48 billion for the ISS, an increase of almost 8%. Funding sought for the Space Shuttle is essentially unchanged, at just under $3 billion.
Big cuts in NASA's aeronautical research and advanced space transportation programmes have allowed the agency to boost funding for space and earth science by just over 3%, to $2.2 billion and $1.46 billion respectively.
NASA Administrator Dan Goldin says the budget provides "-the necessary resources to meet the current challenges of the International Space Station."
It includes $200 million to provide a back-up capability, in case Russia's economic problems prevent it meeting ISS commitments. "Last year we made a strategic decision to assist our Russian partners in the near term, to facilitate their completion of essential station components," says Goldin.
"We covered the fiscal year 1998 and fiscal year 1999 impacts, and asked the administration for assistance in covering fiscal year 2000 and future year costs," he says. Winning that support has required NASA to make "-appropriate reductions in human spaceflight-[and] other NASA programmes with lower priority," Goldin says.
The biggest increases in the Space Station budget are to cover operations and on-orbit research, which are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of FY2000. Funding is provided to begin development of an ISS crew-return-vehicle (CRV). Four seven-person CRVs are scheduled to be available, beginning in FY2004. The X-38 project, to demonstrate technology for the CRV, is fully funded.
The budget for Shuttle operations is increased to cover the eight flights planned in FY2000, up from six due in FY1999. All but one will be used to assemble the ISS.
NASA's space-science budget request includes two new elements of the Mars Surveyor programme: Mars Micromissions, to deliver science payloads of up to 50kg, beginning with the Mars Airplane fly-over mission in 2003 or 2005; and the Mars Network, to increase communications capability between Mars and the earth.
The earth-sciences budget includes funds for the Triana mission to locate a spacecraft at the sun-earth L1 point, to provide continuous observation of the full sunlit disc of the earth.
The $40 million robotic aircraft will conduct reconnaissance for sample return sites, and explore geologically interesting areas.
Source: Flight International
