Future astronauts may explore the first asteroid. Image Credit/Lockheed Martin
The House Appropriations Committee this week produced new details of the proposed budget Continuing Resolution that would fund the federal government through the end of the 2011 fiscal year, including $18.485 billion for NASA, just over $500 million less than President Obama requested for the period.
The broad terms of the spending plan were agreed to by the White House, House and Senate late last week (April 8-9), as part of a contentious debt reduction debate.
The entire Department of Defense and Full-year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, which House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers unveiled on Tuesday, includes just over $1 trillion in overall federal spending, or nearly $40 billion less than the federal government was funded at for 2010 fiscal year. The 2011 fiscal year will end on Sept. 30.
Though the latest C.R. reduces NASA funding for the year, it removes restrictions requiring the agency to continue spending on the Constellation Program. The terms, in effect, enable NASA to pursue the human exploration strategy outlined in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, agreed to by lawmakers and signed onto law by Obama last year.
Constellation was initiated by President George W. Bush, who set goals for a human return to the moon by 2020 and the establishment of a lunar base. Obama attempted to terminate Constellation in early 2010, after a White House advisory panel concluded the initiative was financially unsustainable.
Obama followed up with a “flexible path” exploration blue print that would send astronauts on a mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 and the moons of Mars a decade later. In the authorization measure, Congress called on NASA to develop a Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle and a heavy lift rocket — called the Space Launch System — that would be ready for operations by the end of 2016. The measure requires NASA to use investments in Constellation as well as shuttle hardware where possible to accelerate the development work and hold down costs.
The space agency intends to continue work on the four person Orion crew vehicle started under Constellation and embrace shuttle-derived technologies for the heavy lift rocket, which lawmakers have specified should be capable of placing 130 tons of payload into low Earth orbit.
Orion capsule would carry four astronauts. Photo Credit/NASA photo
The new Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act must be passed by the House and Senate and sent to the president for his signature, if the terms are to be enacted.
The bill specifies just over $3.8 billion this year for Exploration, including $1.2 billion for the Orion capsule, which is under development at the Johnson Space Center. Another $1.8 billion in Exploration funding would go for work on the heavy lifter, which is under development at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
The appropriations act includes just over $5.5 billion for space operations, much of the total funding International Space Station and shuttle operations. Just under $5 billion would be spent on NASA science activities, including robotic planetary and Earth science missions; $535 million on aeronautics research; and $146 million on educational activities. Just over $3.1 billion would be spent on cross agency support or administrative requirements and $394 million on new construction and environmental compliance activities.