House Panel Recommends Increasing NASA and NOAA Budgets

WASHINGTON ? A House appropriations subcommittee voted June 11 to give NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) more money for 2008 than the White House was seeking for either agency.

Specifically, the panel approved $17.6 billion for NASA, some $290 million above the agency?s request.

NOAA would get $4 billion next year, or about $200 million more than it had sought.

The NASA and NOAA funding was included in a $53.6 billion spending bill that cleared the House Appropriations commerce, justice and science subcommittee June 11. The bill must still clear the full House Appropriations Committee before it can go to the floor for a vote. A companion bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate.

The extra money, however, did not come without conditions. NASA would have to spend every penny of that windfall ? and more ? on science, aeronautics and education and would be prohibited from funding any efforts aimed at sending humans to Mars.

NOAA, meanwhile, would be expected to continue development of some climate sensors dropped from the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System program last year amid massive cost overruns.

According to the subcommittee?s press release, the bill provides:

• $5.3 billion for NASA?s Science Mission Directorate, or about $180 million more than requested
• $690 million for NASA?s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, or about $150 million more than requested
• $218 million for NASA education programs, or $64 million than requested.
• $3.9 billion for NASA?s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the same as NASA?s request.

No budget figures were given for NASA?s Space Operations Mission Directorate. A source familiar with the bill said Space Operations, which includes the space shuttle and international space station programs, took a hit to help cover the aeronautics, education and science increases not paid for by the extra $290 million the subcommittee added to the bill for NASA.

At least some of the additional NASA science money, according to the release, is to be used ?for the development of several earth science missions at NASA.?

The bill itself was not released pending its consideration by the full committee perhaps as early as this week. However, according to the subcommittee?s June 11 press release, ?the bill language also continues a moratorium prohibiting NASA from implementing a reduction in force and from funding any research, development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars.?

?NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests,? the press release says.

It is not clear what practical effect the Mars moratorium would have on NASA since the agency?s near-term focus is on fielding by 2015 spacecraft and rockets designed to replace the space shuttle and enable human missions to the Moon by 2020. NASA officials have said they do not foresee the United States embarking on human missions to Mars any earlier than 2030.