But two members of Congress joined several representatives of the aerospace community in calling on congressional leaders to reverse course and restore funding to the space weather forecasting operation.
The House of Representatives has approved $5.3 million for the center, while the Senate's version for NOAAs budget -- which it has not yet voted on -- contains no money at all for the center.
In eliminating funding for the center, the Senate Appropriations Committee suggested the U.S. Air Force take over the centers mission. But Senators did not, in turn, provide funding for the Air Force to do so.
The recent flares in solar activity have drawn attention to the centers fate, although the House Science environment, technology and standards subcommittee scheduled Thursday's hearing several weeks ago.
Representatives from NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the commercial satellite and aviation industries told the House subcommittee they favored keeping the center funded at its current level of funding, and that it services remain a function of NOAA, rather than be transferred to another government agency or be privatized.
"Losing the Space Environment Center's forecasts would be like living along a coastal area without any hurricane forecasting ability," said John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut and now NASA's chief scientist. "You would know when the hurricane hit you, but you would have no advanced warning, no ability to take preventative actions, and no idea how strong it would be or how long it would last."
The $3 million funding reduction approved by the House would force the center to chose between focusing on providing research and development data, and operational forecasts, Ernest Hildner, director of the Space Environment Center, told the subcommittee.
U.S. Reps. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) -- the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, respectively -- expressed their support for full funding of the center in 2004.
"Many of us may think of solar eruptions as a curiosity, or as the source of the beautiful aurora borealis often observed by residents in the northern U.S.," Ehlers said. "However, as highlighted by recent media attention, these solar events can have serious repercussions for Earth-based technological systems."
Disruptions in communications, increases in radiation exposure to those flying at high altitude and potentially wide areas of power outages all can be blamed on the effects of space weather. Advance warning of a solar storm from the Colorado center, as seen during the past few days, can help institutions prepare for and minimize those effects.
"What would we do without this data? We couldn't live without it," said Robert Hedinger, executive vice president at Loral Skynet, which operates a constellation of Earth orbiting satellites that services much of the nation's cable television programming and corporate communications.
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