2010 NASA Budget Options

[Mongo]

2010 Proposed NASA Budget

No details yet, but says this:

Funds a Robust Program of Space Exploration involving humans and Robots.

NASA’s astronauts and robotic spacecraft have been exploring our solar system and the universe for more than 50 years. The Agency will create a new chapter of this legacy as it works to return Americans to the Moon by 2020 as part of a robust human and robotic space exploration program. NASA also will send a broad suite of robotic missions to destinations throughout the solar system and develop a bold new set of astronomical observatories to probe the mysteries of the universe, increasing investment in research, data analysis, and technology development in support of these goals.

FY2008 -- $17.2 Billion (actual)
FY2009 -- $17.8 Billion (projected)
FY2010 -- $18.7 Billion (projected)

(plus another $1.0 Billion from Recovery Act)

Bill

[Byran]

(plus another $1.0 Billion from Recovery Act)

http://www.nasa.gov/recovery/
Exploration: $400,000,000

"Exploration" - robots for the study Solar system and astronomical observatories?

[vjkane]

http://www.nasa.gov/recovery/
Exploration: $400,000,000

"Exploration" - robots for the study Solar system and astronomical observatories?

NASA gets to propose, but I believe that this is for the manned program where exploration = people to the moon (eventually)

[Mongo]

"Exploration" - robots for the study Solar system and astronomical observatories?

I hope so -- there is also this from that same web page:

Science: $400,000,000

-- to accelerate the development of the Tier 1 set of Earth Science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies

[Poolio]

I don't mean to introduce a banned topic here (manned spaceflight) but as it's relevant to the discussion I'll throw it out there...

From a pair of emails from SpaceX dated Feb 11 and Feb 21, Elon Musk implies that the $400M "Exploration" budget is at least partially linked to COTS Capability D, which is manned use of the Dragon capsule for ISS support missions. It's not stated explicitly but can be inferred by context of both emails. I don't know what else the money might be earmarked for, or what impact that would have on UMSF.

[Byran]

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/315067main_fy10_nasa.pdf
SPACE EXPLORATION
Funds a robust program of space exploration involving humans and robots. The agency will create a new chapter of this
legacy as it works to return Americans to the Moon. NASA also will send a broad suite of robotic missions to destinations throughout the solar system and develop a bold new set of astronomical observatories to probe the mysteries of the universe, increasing investment in research, data analysis, and technology development in support of these goals.

[vjkane]

http://www.nasa.gov/recovery/
Exploration: $400,000,000

"Exploration" - robots for the study Solar system and astronomical observatories?

NASA gets to propose, but I believe that this is for the manned program where exploration = people to the moon (eventually)

[tedstryk]

Whatever exploration ends up meaning, "Science: $400,000,000
-- to accelerate the development of the Tier 1 set of Earth Science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies" looks interesting.