| Highlights - Shortly before publication of this report, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s
(NASA) Science Mission Directorate was reorganized into four divisions, namely
Planetary Science, Earth Science, Astrophysics and Heliophysics, reversing an
organizational structure that lumped Earth science together with solar physics.
Astronomy, defined broadly, is funded through the Planetary Science, Astrophysics
and Heliophysics divisions. Web pages for the various divisions have not yet been
established and this reorganization is ongoing. - The budget proposed for the National Science Foundation’s
(NSF)
division of Astronomical Sciences (AST)
would increase by 7.7 percent from a FY 2006 estimate of $199.65 million to $215.11
million for FY 2007 (see Table II-7). AST provides
funding directly to astronomical researchers. Of the many important projects funded
by the NSF, one of the most exciting is the discovery of evidence for how our
Universe came to have its current shape. Data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
was used by Dr. Daniel Eisenstein of the University of Arizona and colleagues from elsewhere
to discover a “bump” in the otherwise smooth curve representing the separation
between galaxies. This bump can be explained by what may be considered the equivalent
of cosmic sound waves traversing through the early Universe. This finding also
strengthens the evidence for an expanding and accelerating universe in which roughly
95 percent of its content is “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy.” - The strong growth of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
of the past few years is reined in under the President’s budget request, with
the overall directorate seeing only a 1.5 percent growth from FY 2006 funding
levels (compared to last year’s budget projections, the FY 2007 projections represent
a $3.1 billion decrease in total planned expenditure). However, this slight positive
increase hides the fact that the funds are preferentially proposed to fund a few
large missions, while basic research and smaller missions see significant cuts.
The magnitude of the proposed cuts are further obscured by the inclusion of the
FY 2006 operating plan into budget documents, which included reductions in numerous
programs and activities from their initially planned FY 2006 levels. - Astronomy is unique in the science community in the
production of prioritized lists of projects requiring federal support. These so-called
“Decadal Surveys” represent community consensus on the relative importance of
scientific research projects. The surveys are carried out under the auspices of
the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council and sponsored by the
funding agencies. The most recent astronomy and astrophysics survey is entitled
Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium.
Two new reports were released in 2002, one that prioritizes the needs of the Planetary
Science community (A New Science Strategy for Solar System Exploration) and the second that covers
the Solar and Space Physics community (Solar and Space
Physics: A Community Assessment and Strategy for the Future.) Projects requiring federal
funding that are not included in these studies (or follow-up letters from the
authoring committees) do not necessarily represent a community consensus priority.
The American Astronomical Society has endorsed all three reports. Introduction The sky belongs to all of humanity and astronomy has
a special role to play in bringing knowledge of the cosmos to us all. Beginning
with the earliest recorded history, the sky and the objects to be seen there have
been observed, debated and analyzed. Only in modern times have we truly found
our place in the Universe. We live out our lives on a relatively small planet
orbiting a rather normal star in an average galaxy. Just in this century, astronomers
have determined how the chemical elements that make up our Earth (and us!) were
formed in supernova explosions and aging giant stars. Astronomers have managed
to trace the history of the Universe back to its very first moments when all matter
and light were compressed into a dense energetic state that rapidly expanded (for
as-yet unknown reasons) forming our Universe. This cosmic explosion is now known
as the Big Bang. In the past decade, astronomers have finally discovered planets
around other stars, confirming that our solar system is not unique and also discovered
that the Universe is not just expanding, but that it is expanding faster and faster
in a kind of “runaway” situation. Amazingly, the newest results indicate that
the nature of roughly 96 percent of the matter and energy content of the Universe
is completely unknown to us. Each new discovery creates new questions and new
technological needs. Astronomy is truly an exciting, vibrant science that adds
meaning to our human existence. NASA provides roughly 75 percent of the federal funding
for astronomical research in the United States. When the budget for the Science
Mission Directorate of NASA is changed, many American astronomers can be affected,
not to mention the workers in the aerospace industry who build the spacecraft
that make these missions possible. NASA continues to provide observing opportunities
for astronomers beyond the hindering absorption of the atmosphere. However, approximately two-thirds of the federal support
for ground-based astronomy, including nearly all support for radio astronomy,
is provided by the NSF.
NSF funds the construction and operation of the U.S. National Observatories.
These observatories play a critical role for researchers from smaller institutions
for which large observing facilities are too expensive to construct and operate.
They also provide access for American astronomers to the sky in the Southern hemisphere,
where many important astronomical objects are located and cannot be observed from
Northern hemisphere locations (e.g. the Magellanic Clouds, our nearest
galactic neighbors). Lately, the Department of Energy (DOE) has undertaken
new astronomical research projects and the Smithsonian Institution and the Department
of Defense also fund astronomical research, though on a smaller scale than both
NASA and NSF. A traditional, but arbitrary, split in funding exists
between NASA and NSF with NASA funding mostly space-based observing and NSF funding mostly ground-based. This line is often blurred, since both agencies
support balloon-based observing and other cross-cutting research. NASA does support
ground-based observing when these activities have a direct supporting role for
their space missions. A recent example is the Keck Interferometer (whose planned
outrigger telescopes are proposed to be canceled in the FY 2007 budget proposal).
Additionally, DOE has begun collaborations with both the NSF and NASA on astronomy-related
projects, such as the Supernova Acceleration Probe, or SNAP.
These collaborations reflect the way astronomers pursue their research, using
any means necessary to study celestial objects. The Astronomy and Astrophysics
Advisory Committee (AAAC)—a
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committee—meets regularly to discuss and
advise on the best and most efficient ways for agencies to collaborate on astronomy
research. Astronomy
in the NASA Budget The
overall NASA budget would increase from a level of $16.6 billion in FY 2006 to
$16.8 billion in FY 2007, an increase of 3.2 percent (excluding emergency supplementals;
see Table II-12 for NASA details). This increase is
lower than anticipated from prior year budget projections. The agency is focused
on implementing the priorities of Congress and the President within the resources
requested. Major plans for the agency overall
include continued assembly of the International Space Station (which is scheduled
to be completed by 2010), servicing the Hubble Space Telescope (if the Space Shuttle
can be flown safely at all) and beginning development of a new manned space flight
hardware system (the Crew Exploration Vehicle and Crew Launch Vehicle). The agency focus on implementing
the President’s Vision for Space Exploration without incurring a large gap in
U.S. capability to place humans in orbit has placed significant pressure on other
parts of the agency, given the assumption of nearly flat budgetary growth. Science is especially hard hit under
the proposed budget for FY 2007. The agency uses the argument that the science
portion of NASA’s budget has grown from a level of 24 percent in 1992 to nearly
32 percent in the FY 2007 request as a case for reducing its growth. But this
statement ignores the fact that NASA modified its accounting structure in the
1990s to a “full-cost” system, which has artificially enhanced the Science budget
by distributing support costs previously carried elsewhere in the budget into
the Science Misison Directorate’s budget. Although a detailed accounting is beyond
the scope of this short chapter, it is fairly clear that if the 1992 funding level
quoted by the administration was scaled to represent full-cost accounting, it
would be at least of the order of the FY 2007 funding level. The Science Mission Directorate,
which was expecting growth in the 5 percent range based on previous budget outyear
projections, is reined in under the President’s FY 2007 budget proposal to a modest
1.5 percent growth from FY 2006 to FY 2007 and 1 percent in subsequent years.
The initial FY 2006 operating plan called for $5.254 billion while the FY 2007
request calls for $5.330 billion. These funding levels should be compared to the
planned FY 2006 level of $5.342 billion ($88 million more than was received in
FY 2006) and the projected (in the FY 2006 budget) FY 2007 funding level of $5.684
billion ($354 million more than is being requested in the 2007 budget). Within the Science Mission Directorate,
the Solar System Exploration division would receive $1.6 billion (compared to
last year’s projection of $2.1 billion), the Universe division would receive $1.5
billion and the Earth-Sun System division $2.210 billion (compare to an FY 2006
planned request level for FY 2007 of $2.081 billion). These budget levels would
all be only slightly positive increases over the FY 2006 initial operating plan. Although there are slight increases for the various
divisions compared to the FY 2006 initial operating plan, a range of activities
are cancelled or delayed in the President’s FY 2007 budget, including: cancellation
or delay of six Mars missions (including Mars Sample Return),
termination of the Dawn
mission, cancellation of various power technology development plans (necessary
for deep-space exploration missions), reduction in astrobiology research by 50
percent, reduction in solar system exploration research funding by 15 percent,
deferment of the Terrestrial Planet Finder,
cancellation of the Keck outrigger telescopes, an initial termination of the Stratospheric
Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)
mission with a retrenchment to a ‘review to determine best course of action’,
reduction in astrophysics research funding of 15 percent, replan of the Beyond
Einstein program with a delay in starting this new initiative for several years,
reduction in Earth-Sun research funding by 15 percent, and launch delays for a
number of Earth and Sun missions (including STEREO
and SDO.) Astronomy
in the NSF Budget NSF funds astronomy through its Division of Astronomical
Sciences.
This funding is split into two basic units, Astronomy Research and Instrumentation
(which funds individual researchers, infrastructure and instrument development
projects and some research facilities such as the Science and Technology Center
for Adaptive Optics)
and Facilities, which supports the four national R&D centers (National Radio
Astronomy Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, National Solar Observatory, and National Astronomy and Ionosphere
Center), as well as the International Gemini
Observatory. The Astronomy Division budget would
increase in the President’s FY 2007 budget by 7.7 percent to $215.1 million (see
Table II-7 for NSF budget details). The Astronomy Research
and Education portion is proposed to increase from $79.32 million to $89.86 million,
representing the bulk of the increase in the division and the portion of the NSF-AST
budget that goes to researchers in the form of research grants. Astronomy Facilities
would see an increase of $4.88 million over FY 2006 to a FY 2007 request for $121.25
million. The increased funding for the division
will go to a variety of programs including enhancing the Physics of the Universe
(POU) partnership between the Astronomy Division, Physics Division, DOE, and NASA;
cyberscience and cyberinfrastructure (including the National Virtual Observatory);
the capabilities of Gemini Observatory; and strategic private-public partnerships
(including development of the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope). The Elementary
Particle Physics Investment has maintained its FY 2006 funding level of $15 million
and has provided discoveries in a range of fields. $3 million of the investment
has been for investigations into a study of “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy.” Funding for the Gemini telescopes
would increase by $1.74 million to $20 million overall in FY 2007. The proposed
increase would pay for the development of the instrumentation that will expand
the Gemini telescopes’ capabilities in adaptive optics. The new instrumentation
will remove much of the atmospheric distortion and allow the Gemini telescopes
to search for planets around nearby stars. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational
Wave Observatory (LIGO) would receive an additional $4.6 million, increasing from
$31.7 million for FY 2006 to $33.0 million for FY 2007. NOAO would also receive an increase
in its share of the Facilities budget, increasing by $3.14 million to $40.05 million.
NAIC and NRAO would see no change in their budgets between FY 2006 and FY 2007,
although ALMA, which falls under NRAO, would receive a $2.0 million increase to
its early operations budget, increasing its total to $6.0 million. The increase
would currently have to be funded through reallocation of funds within the overall
NRAO budget. Overall, the facilities budgets
would be maintained at nearly the FY 2006 levels due to the “Senior Review,” a
process new to NSF that is similar to NASA’s Senior Review. The NSF AST division
is employing this process to evaluate the cost effectiveness of its facilities
and to determine how to manage its current portfolio of facilities in order to
achieve the priorities outlined in the last Decadal Survey, while maintaining
core programs. Astronomy
is also supported within the NSF budget through the Office of Polar Programs
(OPP), Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) and Multidisciplinary
Activities budget lines. Request for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an extension
of the successful AMANDA project, would receive $28.65 million in its continued
construction phase. Funding for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array
(ALMA) telescope construction in FY 2007 is slated to be $47.89 million. Astronomy Elsewhere in the Budget Both the Navy and Air Force fund fundamental astronomical
research for a variety of reasons related to national security. Although exact
numbers were not available, the total amount expended is not as large as either
NSF or NASA, but is important as it often represents multidisciplinary involvement
in astrophysical research. The Department of Energy (DOE) also funds astrophysical
research under its Office of Science. One example is the Supernova Acceleration
Probe (SNAP).
The Smithsonian Institution supports a wide array of astronomical research as
well through its Center for Astrophysics,
including telescopes in Hawaii and Arizona. The Submillimeter Array,
an innovative high-frequency radio telescope is nearing operational completion
on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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