WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee that includes the budget for NASA will "mark-up" or finalize the space agency's budget for Fiscal Year 2000 this week. Space advocates will try to add $50 million to the agency's Future-X research project. The project aims to create a new series of air-breathing space vehicles miniature versions of planned spacecraft to be launched in atmospheric tests starting early next decade.

Advocates of inexpensive space flight hope that the added funds will go to build demonstration flight vehicles that can be built at a fraction of the cost of full-scale vessels to test novel technology and flight systems. Whatever the Senate approves must be meshed with the House of Representatives version of the NASA bill, which cleared the House floor in May. A House-Senate conference committee will merge the two proposed budget numbers this summer and push the agreed-upon final budget back to the floor of both houses of Congress this fall for approval.

The only other major areas of controversy concern the Triana satellite project and a proposed inflatable space station module called TransHab. The House stripped both projects from its bill, while the Senate is expected to keep both programs in its budget.

Triana is a remote sensing satellite that would monitor Earth from a million miles away. It was proposed by Vice President Al Gore. Critics say the $75 million project is a waste that duplicates functions of existing satellites.

TransHab is currently included in the International Space Station program's budget, but is not manifested for launch during station construction. Critics say TransHab should be funded within NASA's Human Exploration and Development (HEADS) program at some future time, not with the space station.