Dr. Griffin believes that the space
science community ignores other aspects of NASA's mission and works outside of
our own community-based, priority-setting processes to further particular
missions with directed congressional language. He went
further, saying in reference to the scientific community: "... from my first days at NASA, as with one
voice, there has been a single concern — the budget is not what once was
promised — and little further discussion has been possible."
I recognize
the issues that Administrator Griffin raises, but I also point out that it is
only natural that the space science community looks to its own interests first.
There is considerable anxiety about the budget for space science — it is not
what once was promised.
The science
community is newly and traumatically dismayed with the precipitous failure of
the Competitiveness Initiative and the America COMPETES Act that would have set
the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on a track to double
their budgets over the next 10 years. This initiative was sacrificed in
the passage of the omnibus funding bill in December after great, encouraging,
bipartisan support. Yet many of us have spoken — some personally to Dr. Griffin — of our general concern for the situation in
which NASA and other science funding agencies find themselves.
In a column in the American Astronomical Society
newsletter, I wrote: "The Columbia disaster put the state
of NASA, its science programs, and the human spaceflight program under a bright
focus. As a result, NASA has been tasked to do too much with too few resources.
Astronomers have been traumatized as plans on which they have built their
careers and planned the careers of their students have been constricted or canceled. Astronomers do not do these things
because they will lead to immense riches. They do them because their hearts and
souls are captured by the wonder at the universe they are privileged to
explore. That is why they leap to the defense of projects, long in the
planning, and consuming of their scientific passions, that are threatened with
cut-backs and cancellation."
Yes, our community has strong
self-interest and concern for budgets, but we understand that those interests
and concerns are reflected in a broader context.
Over the
past decade, the American Astronomical Society has actively supported the top
line budgets for all the agencies that fund astronomy, primarily NASA, the National Science Foundation and
the Department of Energy's Office of Science. We also have highlighted the value of
our own unique contribution to NASA because that is what we know best. As we
lay plans for the next National Research Council-sponsored decadal survey in
astronomy and astrophysics, we are focusing on the need to have accurate cost
estimates and to reconsider facilities and missions blessed by past decadal
surveys in the context of new opportunities. This is a healthy response to the
current fiscal and scientific environment, not a single-minded focus on past promises
abrogated.
We will
increase our efforts for 2009 to restore the budget
enhancements associated with the Competitiveness Initiative. We think that NASA
science should be part of that initiative to maintain the scientific and engineering
edge the United States has long enjoyed. Only by supporting
our agencies broadly and in union with other interest groups can our particular
discipline succeed in the long run.
The
American Astronomical Society with the support of all of its divisions has just
issued a policy resolution stressing the importance of community-based priority
setting. We restated the importance of our multi-decade tradition of
prioritizing facilities and missions and emphasized the importance of
respecting those priorities. The last thing our science, or NASA, needs is directed congressional language that disrupts
the priorities we work so hard to establish. There is no more fickle a prioritizer than our own legislative system.
NASA now is facing a challenging and exciting
future. While NASA's projected budget for 2005-2012 has contracted by almost $12 billion in reductions and unplanned expenses, NASA has grand plans. NASA is
reinventing manned spaceflight from the ground up and developing significant
new launch capabilities for use by the whole NASA family.
I have
great admiration for the new team Dr. Griffin has put into place to direct space
science. Alan Stern, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate,
is energetically trying to do more with his flat budget. NASA also is committed to the completion
of the space station to fulfill international obligations. Though financially
painful to the whole agency, the completion of the station will allow the start
of a new day in human spaceflight while ensuring that future international partners
can trust the United States to stand by its promises. This has
obvious ramifications for all future international efforts in space.
Ben
Franklin used his startling quote more than 200 years ago to rally the early states
to defend themselves. The coming years likely will see a tightening of the
federal budget. This will challenge all federal agencies. Those with supportive
communities that work in unison will succeed. Those with divisive communities
that scramble for funds while disregarding larger issues will fail. The space
science community does not want to fail. We do not want NASA to fail. To succeed,
we must all hang together, or we shall certainly all hang separately.
J. Craig Wheeler is
president of the American Astronomical Society in Washington.
