Highlights
- The FY 2004 omnibus bill provides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) with a $15.4 billion budget in FY 2004, the same as FY 2003,
but NASA would shift funds toward the return to flight of the Space
Shuttle and scientific space missions and away from the stalled International
Space Station project (see Table).
- NASA’s R&D activities receive $11.0 billion, a cut of 0.4 percent.
Nearly
four months after the start of FY 2004, Congress gave final approval
on January 22 to an omnibus appropriations bill (HR 2673) that sets
final funding levels for NASA and several other R&D funding agencies.
The House approved the omnibus bill on December 8, but the Senate delayed
final action until January 22; President Bush is expected to sign the
bill into law by the end of January. The FY 2004 omnibus bill provides NASA with
a total budget of $15.4 billion in FY 2004, the same amount as FY 2003
and $91 million less than the request (see Table).
(Note: the figures in the Table are adjusted to reflect an across-the-board
cut of 0.59 percent included in the omnibus bill). With the recent presidential
announcement of plans to send men to the moon again on the way to Mars,
the FY 2005 budget will probably see larger increases.
NASA’s R&D (two-thirds of the agency’s budget) falls 0.4 percent to
$11.0 billion because non-R&D programs, of which the largest
is the Space Shuttle, have higher priority. The cuts fall primarily
on the International Space Station, delayed because of the sidelining
of the Space Shuttle.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)’s budget proposal in February 2003 was finalized before the
Columbia shuttle disaster. The loss of seven astronauts
and the shuttle threw the proposed FY 2004 budget in disarray, and a
year later NASA’s future plans are still in flux. At the end of
August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) released its
findings, which harshly criticized NASA practices in managing the Shuttle
and called for far-ranging changes in the program.
In response, NASA is still mapping out plans for a return to
human space flight in FY 2004, which could happen in fall 2004 at the
earliest. In limbo are of course the Space Shuttle program (the largest
item in the budget), the International Space Station (still under construction,
and dependent on the Shuttle for crews, supplies, and construction materials),
and other human space flight programs.
Because of the uncertain situation at NASA, the omnibus bill provides
unusual flexibility in the NASA budget, especially the Space Flight
Capabilities (SFC) account which funds the above programs. NASA will
have some freedom to move funds within the $7.5 billion SFC appropriation
as necessary to get the Space Shuttle program up and running again as
its budget needs become clearer. While the omnibus bill allows $4.0
billion for the program, a 1.5 percent increase, the final allocation
for this program, the International Space Station, and other SFC accounts
will depend on evolving NASA needs.
Congress gives $1.5 billion to the Space Station, down $344 million
from FY 2003, but actual funding could go even lower after transfers
to the Shuttle program. With the original deadline of February 2004
for completion of the core station now shattered, the Station is now
essentially in maintenance mode of two astronauts supplied by Russian
spacecraft, with construction activities in limbo indefinitely.
With the Shuttle fleet grounded, a program to explore possible alternatives
has taken on new importance. Congress provides $1.0 billion for
the Space Launch Initiative (SLI), a program to develop and test alternative
space launch and transportation technologies, specifically alternatives
to the Space Shuttle. Its two main projects are the Orbital Space Plane
(OSP) and the Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program. Both
programs were thrown into turmoil by the recent presidential announcement
of plans to return to the moon on the way to a possible manned mission
to Mars. In response, NASA has announced plans to cancel the OSP and
work instead on developing a Crew Exploration Vehicle spacecraft as
a replacement for the Shuttle. The NGLT program explores longer-term
reliable alternatives for launch technology which could be incorporated
into future human launch vehicles.
Most of NASA’s
R&D is funded through the Science,
Aeronautics, and Exploration (SAE) account, which receives $7.9 billion
in FY 2004, a 5.7 percent boost over FY 2003 (see Table). This account,
reorganized somewhat and renamed from the Science, Aeronautics, and
Technology (SAT) account, should be relatively unaffected by the aftermath
of the shuttle disaster, but overall funding could change in later NASA
plans if additional resources need to be diverted to SFC programs. Space
Science is the big winner in SAE, winning an increase of 11.7 percent
to $4.0 billion in FY 2004. Biological and physical research continues
to be a high priority, increasing from $935 million to $990 million,
an increase of 5.9 percent, but since much of this research is proposed
for the Space Station this account will have to be adjusted to accommodate
a revised Space Station construction schedule.
The other SAE
accounts receive more than requested, primarily because of congressionally
designated research projects added onto the request, but one account
receives less funding than 2003. Earth Science funding declines 4.9
percent to $1.6 billion, as requested by NASA. Congress adds $126 million
to the request for Aero-Space Technology for aeronautics research, bringing
the total to $1.1 billion (up 3.5 percent). Congress adds $58 million
in R&D earmarks to the request for Academic Programs for a total
of $227 million, up slightly from FY 2003. All told, Congress added $194 million in R&D
earmarks to the SAE account, taking up half the increase in SAE funding.
Impacts of the NASA R&D Portfolio
Figure 1. (click on the image to view
or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
The cuts to NASA's
R&D portfolio in FY 2004 keep NASA R&D essentially level-funded
for the past decade, as shown in Figure 1. NASA's R&D funding has
barely kept pace with inflation going back to FY 1991, and there are
few signs that it will grow significantly, at least in the near future.
Although the Bush Administration's moon and Mars plan promises new development
efforts, initial indications are that most of the money will come from
reprogramming from other NASA programs rather than large funding increases
in FY 2005 and later. With a return to the moon nearly twenty years
away and a possible trip to Mars nearly three decades away, the presidential
announcement does little to change NASA's near-term budget prospects.
Figure 2. (click on the image to view
or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
Although much of NASA’s R&D
portfolio funds development and facilities projects such as the Space Station, NASA is also an important source of federal
support for basic and applied research. Figure
2 shows NASA’s importance as a funding source for several key science and
engineering disciplines, while Figure 3 shows the division of NASA’s research
portfolio (slightly less than half of NASA’s R&D budget) by discipline.
Figure 3. (click on the image to view
or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
Engineering research makes up the
largest part of the NASA portfolio. NASA funds approximately a quarter of total
federal support for engineering research. As Figure 2 shows, NASA support is
especially important in some engineering sub-fields such as astronautical engineering
and aeronautical engineering; NASA supplies nearly all of the federal funds for
these sub-fields. NASA is the leading federal sponsor of the environmental
sciences (oceanography, atmospheric sciences, geological sciences). The
environmental sciences are a quarter of NASA’s portfolio, but NASA accounts for
a third of total federal support for environmental sciences research. In particular, NASA funds the majority of
federal support for atmospheric sciences, mostly through the Earth Science
program, while NASA is also responsible for nearly a third of total federal
support for geology (other major sponsors include the Department of the
Interior and NSF). NASA also invests heavily in the physical sciences
(astronomy, chemistry, and physics). NASA is the second largest federal sponsor
of physical sciences behind the Department of Energy, and is by far the leading
sponsor of astronomy research.
The declining
NASA R&D portfolio in FY 2004 is likely to result in some cuts in
NASA's support of research, especially in the environmental sciences,
while funding for astronomy and the life sciences should benefit from
increases in Space Science and Biological and Physical Research, respectively.
Figure 4. (click on the image to view
or download a color, full-page PDF version of the chart)
The majority of NASA’s R&D
portfolio is performed by industrial firms, especially the development and
R&D facilities projects such as the Space Station (see Figure 4). Many of
its space science, earth science, and other missions involving spacecraft or
satellites are developed and managed by NASA’s own laboratories, performers of
20 percent of the portfolio, or its national laboratories such as the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, NASA-owned but privately-operated facilities responsible
for 13 percent of the portfolio. Universities and colleges are a relatively
small part of the NASA R&D portfolio.
Next Steps
The House approved
the omnibus bill on December 8, and the Senate gave final approval on
January 22. Until a final budget is signed, NASA is perating at last
year's funding levels under a continuing resolution extending through
January 31; President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law by
then. The FY 2005 budget proposal will be released on February 2, and
it is expected to give the first indications of how NASA will fulfill
President Bush's vision of moon and Mars missions.
(This analysis is one of a series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on the FY 2004 congressional appropriations
process. The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including
continually updated analyses of R&D in FY 2004 appropriations, is
available on the AAAS R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd)
in the “FY 2004 R&D” or the “What’s
New” sections.)
- December 9, 2003 (revised January 23)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
