Highlights
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to
juggle its many missions within a flat budget of $16.4 billion in FY
2006, 1.3 percent or $215 million above last year. In the final FY 2006 appropriation,
NASA’s R&D funding climbs 7.3 percent or $776 million to $11.5 billion
as an expected decline in Space Shuttle costs frees up money for NASA
R&D programs, especially those related to NASA’s vision for human space exploration (see Table).
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The large increase in NASA’s R&D is partly due to mid-year cuts
imposed on the 2005 budget. In May, NASA shifted $284 million from R&D
accounts to the Space Shuttle program to give it a record $5 billion
budget in preparation for a safe July 2005 return to flight. With the next
shuttle launch delayed until May 2006 to address safety problems, the
FY 2006 R&D budget could also be reduced in coming months to pay
for new safety measures.
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While the agency receives additional resources for its ambitious plans
to finish construction of the International Space Station, explore the
solar system, and develop the technologies needed for future moon and
Mars missions, there are steep cuts in other NASA missions. Even from
a 2005 base reduced by mid-year cuts, there are further cuts in NASA’s
aeronautics research portfolio (down 2.5 percent to $938 million), the
earth sciences portfolio (down 7.3 percent to $2.1 billion), and especially
biological and physical sciences research (down 13.6 percent to $799
million).
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The largest increases go to applied research on human space flight
technologies. The Constellation Systems program to develop a new
Crew Exploration Vehicle and Crew Launch Vehicle for human exploration
sees its budget nearly triple to $1.1 billion, while efforts to develop
supporting technologies also receive large increases.
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The International Space Station receives $1.8 billion, up 5.5 percent,
in anticipation of the Space Shuttle returning to its role of transporting
Station components into space.
NASA R&D in FY 2006 Conference Appropriations
On November 7, congressional
appropriators released the conference report (final agreement) for the
FY 2006 Science, State, Justice, and Commerce appropriations bill (HR
2862), setting the stage for final congressional approval and a presidential
signature in the next week. But a later appropriations bill may impose
across-the-board cuts of up to 2 percent on all programs, even after
the bill is signed into law. Congress gives NASA a total budget
of $16.4 billion in FY 2006, an increase of 1.3 percent or $215 million
(see Table) that falls slightly short of the request.
(For details of R&D in the FY 2006 request, please see Chapter
10 of AAAS Report XXX: R&D
FY 2006 or the March 9 AAAS R&D Funding
Update.)
Because
of an extensive reorganization of appropriations bill jurisdictions,
in FY 2006 NASA and the National Science Foundation
(NSF) are funded for the first time with the Departments
of Commerce, Justice, and State. NSF
and NASA were formerly funded in the now defunct VA-HUD appropriations
bill alongside the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing/Urban
Development. As a result, the former Commerce, Justice, and State appropriations
bill now has “Science” in its name. The conference report contains an
across-the-board cut of 0.28 percent to get the bill’s totals under
the congressional target, in advance of a larger across-the-board cut
for all domestic programs of up to 2 percent that is expected to be
included in the last FY 2006 appropriations bill. (All figures in this
analysis reflect the 0.28 percent cut.)
The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) may escape the
tight funding squeeze facing other domestic programs in FY 2006, but
the agency faces its own funding squeezing from trying to get the Space
Shuttle back to safe flight, finish construction of the International
Space Station, embark on an ambitious plan to return humans to the moon
and send them onward to Mars, and also support R&D across a broad
range of fields, all within an
essentially flat budget. The FY 2006 $16.4 billion NASA budget is a
1.3 percent increase, less than inflation, for a key year in which a
dramatic ramp-up of R&D efforts on human space vehicles coincides with shuttle
flights and resumed construction of the Space Station.
Because
of mid-year reductions in the 2005 base along with an expected decline
in non-R&D Shuttle funding, NASA’s R&D funding increases dramatically
in 2006 after a cut in 2005, but any increase in Shuttle costs in preparation
for the next May 2006 launch, as well
as an expected across-the-board cut, could eat away at the increase.
In
order to keep up with changing shuttle launch schedules and shifting
timelines for ending the Space Station and returning to the moon, NASA’s
budget has been in flux for the past few years with major changes happening
even in mid-year. NASA’s R&D (two-thirds of the agency’s budget) totals $11.5 billion
in the final FY 2006 appropriation, a 7.3 percent increase that is certain
to be the largest percentage increase among the major R&D funding
agencies (see Table and Figure 1). R&D funding grows far faster
than the total NASA budget because the agency anticipates a reduction
in the non-R&D Space Shuttle program from a record $5.0 billion
funding level last year down to $4.5 billion this year, and also because
NASA made mid-year cuts in the 2005 R&D portfolio mid year (see Figure 1). But
if safety upgrades in preparation for the May 2006 shuttle launch cost
more than expected, money could be siphoned off from
R&D programs to the shuttle midway through 2006,
as was the case in preparation for the July 2005 return to flight.
Figure 1. (click on the image for PDF)
For
the moment, the latest FY 2006 budget plan agrees with NASA’s plan to
increase funding for the International Space Station. The Station is
now essentially in maintenance mode until the Space Shuttle resumes
its role of carrying Station components into orbit. After shrinking
to $1.4 billion in 2004, Space Station construction is scheduled to
resume after the next shuttle launch with a $1.8 billion budget, up
$93 million from 2005. The Space Station and the Space Shuttle make
up the Exploration Capabilities (EC) account, which totals $6.6 billion,
a decline of 6.6 percent because of the expected fall-off in Shuttle
costs (see Table). If the shuttle launch is delayed again, Space Station
funding will be diverted to other projects.
With
these two big-ticket current programs provided for in the EC account,
the Science, Aeronautics, and
Exploration (SAE) account, which funds most of NASA’s research, climbs
$684 million or 7.6 percent to reach $9.7 billion. The entire increase
and then some goes to the new Constellation Systems program to develop replacements for the Space
Shuttle which will eventually return humans to the moon and then onward to Mars. From
$422 million last year, funding nearly triples to $1.1 billion in 2006
for applied research on the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Crew
Launch Vehicle (CLV) concepts. But NASA could wind up spending even
more: Congress finalized its appropriation before an internal memo surfaced
last week showing the agency’s plan to devote $1.6 billion to Constellation
Systems to accelerate development of the CEV and CLV to have the vehicles
ready by 2012 instead of the previously announced 2014.
The
large increase for the next space vehicles comes at the cost of sharply
reduced funding for biological and physical sciences research, and new
propulsion technologies.
Constellation Systems is part of a larger Exploration Systems account
geared to next-generation human space flight technologies; the overall
Exploration Systems account gets $3.0 billion, a 26 percent boost over
2005, but the entire increase goes to the Constellation Systems effort.
Congress thus winds up
endorsing NASA’s proposal to dramatically restructure and downsize
its biological and physical sciences research portfolio into
a Human Systems Research and Technology program more narrowly focused
on research topics relevant to human space flight. Human Systems R&T
within Exploration Systems receives $799 million, down 13.6 percent
from $925 million last year. But NASA plans to reduce the portfolio
even further in order to boost
Constellation Systems; the latest NASA plan allocates just $564 million,
down 40 percent from 2004 funding levels. The Prometheus Nuclear Systems
and Technology program to develop new power and propulsion technologies
based on nuclear power for future NASA missions receives $126 million,
down from last year’s $270 million, since NASA now sees no need for
these technologies until 2018 at the earliest. The other Exploration
Systems account, the Exploration Systems Research and Technology (R&T)
program on support technologies aligned with Constellation Systems needs,
increases 22 percent to $901 million, although NASA now plans to reduce
funding down to $745 million.
NASA
R&D programs in aeronautics and the earth sciences suffer cuts in
the FY 2006 appropriation and could suffer further cuts as the year
goes on. Funding for the Earth-Sun System program, restructured from
the former Earth Science program, declines 7.3 percent to $2.1 billion.
This NASA program is a key part of the interagency Climate Change Science
Program and is responsible for space-based observations of the earth
environment. NASA’s support of aeronautics research falls less than
requested, but at $938 million is still 2.5 percent below last year’s
funding level. Language accompanying the NASA appropriation makes clear
congressional support for sustaining NASA’s investment in aeronautics
research, especially at a time when other industrial nations are increasing
their investments, but funding lags behind the language. The bill contains
provisions first proposed by the House calling on the Bush Administration
to develop a National Aeronautics Policy within the next year that sets out a clear policy direction for
the federal role in the civil aviation industry, and calls on NASA to
prepare a report on how the FY 2006 aeronautics investment would enhance
U.S. competitiveness in aeronautics, lead to breakthrough technologies,
and contribute to other NASA goals. That said, NASA’s aeronautics support
has been in steady decline over the last decade and FY 2006 appropriation
leaves the portfolio at little more than half the size of a decade ago.
Congress allocates $271
million for the Hubble Space Telescope, to follow on $291 million provided
last year. The allocation follows a recent decision by new NASA Administrator
Michael Griffin to reassess the possibility of a servicing mission to
the telescope. NASA attracted strong criticism a few years
ago for canceling a planned shuttle servicing mission to
extend the life of the Hubble, instead focusing on robotic servicing.
The FY 2006 budget proposal in February, prepared under the watch of
the previous administrator, would have canceled any servicing mission,
but the latest appropriation puts a servicing mission back on the agenda.
Congress
deletes funding for the Centennial Challenges program to award competitive
prizes for new technologies. The request of $34 million would have funded
NASA attempts to replicate the X-Prize program, but Congress has criticized
NASA for requesting the funds but leaving the technology challenges,
prize levels, and other milestones unidentified in a program that has
yet to be authorized in law.
Funding
for Mars Exploration remains at last year’s level of $680 million to
fund extended operations of the Mars Exploration Rovers and other robotic Mars missions.
Despite
tough budget times, one part of the NASA budget that continues to increase
is congressional earmarks. Congress allocates a record-breaking $321
million for performer-specific projects in the FY 2006 NASA appropriation,
far above the $217 million in similar earmarks in FY 2005. The earmarks
are distributed throughout the SAE account, but many of them are in
Education Programs, resulting in a dramatic boost of 53.8 percent to
$275 million. Although many of the earmarked projects fund R&D or
R&D facilities related to NASA missions in earth, space, and physical
sciences, the earmarks also fund science education programs, science
museums, and high school science labs.
Impacts and Next Steps
The
large increase
to NASA’s R&D portfolio in FY 2006 continues
a modest upward trend for the last few years, as shown in Figure 1,
except for the drop in the 2005 budget. NASA’s R&D funding has just
kept pace with inflation going back to FY 1991, and recent increases
have been just barely ahead of inflation. NASA has committed to carrying
out its ambitious plans with a budget that would just keep pace with expected
inflation over the next decade. Although inflationary increases are
more than most R&D funding agencies are likely to get in the next
few years, NASA’s big plans will still require NASA to reshuffle its
resources and to meet ambitious targets for deployment, construction,
and then phase-out of the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs to
make room for moon and Mars programs.
Figure 2. (click on the image for PDF)
Although much of NASA’s R&D portfolio funds development
and facilities projects such as the Space Station, NASA
is responsible for 10 percent of all federal support for basic and applied
research with far larger roles in key fields. Engineering research
makes up the largest part of the NASA portfolio (see Figure 2). NASA
funds more than a quarter of total federal support for engineering research.
NASA supplies nearly all the federal support for some engineering sub-fields
such as astronautical engineering and aeronautical engineering. 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. 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 with more than 70 percent of the federal total. NASA
research increases dramatically in the FY 2006 budget, but the increases
will overwhelmingly go to expand the engineering share of the portfolio
because of the focus on next-generation space vehicles. There are likely
to be cuts in NASA support for other disciplines.
Industrial firms receive half
the NASA R&D portfolio. In FY 2004, industry received 50 percent
of the NASA R&D budget. 20 percent of NASA R&D went to the agency’s
own federal laboratories, while another 14 percent went to the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California, a privately-operated (by CalTech) NASA-owned
laboratory. Universities and colleges received 10 percent of NASA’s
R&D.
Figure 3. (click on the image for PDF)
Because of
NASA’s reliance on large firms and large federal laboratories, NASA’s R&D
is heavily concentrated in just a few states. As shown in Figure 3, fully
two-thirds of NASA’s R&D is performed in just the four states of California,
Texas, Maryland, and Virginia. California is home to three major NASA
facilities: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Ames Research Center
in Moffett Field, and the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards. Texas is
home to the Johnson Space Center in Houston; Maryland houses the Goddard Space
Flight Center; and Virginia houses the Langley Research Center in Hampton.
These states are also where many industrial contractors on projects such as the
International Space Station are located.
The
House and the Senate are expected to give final approval to the Science,
State, Justice, and Commerce bill shortly, and President Bush is expected
to sign the bill into law before the temporary FY 2006 funding bill
expires on November 18. But this conference report may not be the final
word; Congress is working on an across-the-board cut for all appropriations
to add to the final FY 2006 appropriations bill. The cut is expected
to reach back even to enacted appropriations bills and reduce funding
for all programs by up to 2 percent.
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November 9, 2005
(This analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding
Updates on FY 2006 congressional appropriations. The complete series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses
of R&D in FY 2006 appropriations, is available on the AAAS
R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the "FY
2006 R&D" or the "What's New"
sections.)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
AAAS R&D
Web site: www.aaas.org/spp/rd
