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NASA R&D by Program in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations PDF
version of this document Main
R&D in the FY 2007 Budget Page
Supplemental
Materials: "House Confirms
Large Boost for NASA Development," AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D
in FY 2007 House Appropriations "NASA
R&D Gains, But Steep Cuts Loom for Research," AAAS R&D Funding
Update on R&D in the FY 2007 NASA Budget AAAS
Analysis of R&D in the FY 2007 Budget -
| Highlights -
Responding to the ballooning costs of the Space Shuttle’s successful return to
fight earlier this month, the Senate would add $1.04 billion in emergency funding
to get the Shuttle program fully back on track next year. The emergency funding,
on top of a modest increase in NASA’s regular budget, would bring total NASA funding
to $17.8 billion in FY 2007 (see Table), a 7 percent
increase over this year. -
Despite the emergency dollars, for most NASA programs the theme continues to be
doing more with less Although NASA’s R&D funding would climb $871 million
or 7.7 percent to $12.2 billion in the Senate appropriation, putting the agency
near the head of the class among the top R&D funding agencies, the entire
increase and more would go to Constellation Systems, the NASA effort to develop
the next generation of human space vehicles. Constellation Systems funding would
soar $1.2 billion or 72 percent to $3.0 billion, leaving all other NASA R&D
programs collectively with falling funding. -
Despite some additional dollars provided by the Senate, aeronautics research
would fall 14 percent to $764 million, and Science funding would rise just 0.8
percent to $5.3 billion and remain well below last year’s funding level. The former
biological and physical research portfolio would tumble 56 percent to $276 million.
- Assuming
the Space Shuttle will be available next year for its role of transporting Station
components into space, the Senate provides $1.8 billion for the International
Space Station construction project next year, up 3.3 percent.
NASA R&D in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations On
July 13, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2007
Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill (CJS; HR 5672). On June 29,
the full House approved its version of the similar Science, State, Justice, and
Commerce appropriations bill (SSJC). The bill is a major funding source for federal
R&D, combining funding for the National Science Foundation
(NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department
of Commerce. (For details of R&D in the FY 2007 request, please see Chapter
10 of AAAS Report
XXXI: R&D FY 2007 or the February
28 AAAS R&D Funding Update. For details of House NASA appropriations,
see the June 26 Update.) The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to forge ahead
with its full program of flying the Space Shuttle, building the Space Station,
funding research across a broad range of disciplines, and developing the next
generation of space vehicles, but tight budget constraints in the overall federal
budget and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin’s promise to do everything within
a budget rising no faster than the rate of inflation are forcing tough choices
in the agency’s priorities. The Senate provides some relief from these constraints
by adding $1.04 billion in emergency funding to NASA’s regular budget. The emergency
funding would sustain the Space Shuttle’s return to flight program and also fund
repairs to Shuttle facilities damaged by last summer’s hurricanes. NASA’s total
budget of $17.8 billion in the FY 2007 Senate appropriation would be $1.1 billion
or 6.8 percent more than the current year in a decisive break from the flat funding
of recent years, and would be $1 billion more than both the request and House
appropriation (see Table). The
Space Shuttle successfully returned to flight earlier this month in its first
trip since a brief flight in July 2005, which in turn was the first flight since
the 2003 Columbia disaster. NASA now
hopes that the Shuttle can resume its normal flight schedule, but anticipates
additional costs to sustain the return to flight and to rebuild hurricane-damaged
facilities. In response, the Senate would add $1.04 billion in emergency funding
for the Shuttle, bringing FY 2007 funding of the Shuttle program to a record $5.1
billion. Earlier in the year, NASA requested only $4.1 billion for 2007, freeing
up money to transfer to the R&D programs that make up the rest of the NASA
budget. The
Senate would agree with NASA’s plan to boost its R&D funding $871 million
or 7.7 percent to $12.2 billion (see Table), continuing a rebound from a dismal
2005 when Shuttle cost overruns forced the agency to siphon money from R&D
programs to the Shuttle. The Senate avoids a repeat of the situation in 2007 through
the extra emergency dollars. But despite the increase, an acceleration of NASA
efforts to develop next-generation human space vehicles to replace the Space Shuttle
would take up the entire R&D increase and more, leaving all other NASA R&D
with declining funding. NASA has reorganized its budget to create the Constellation
Systems program to develop a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Crew Launch
Vehicle (CLV) to replace no later than 2014. This large program to fund development
of the CEV, CLV, and related technologies quadrupled from just $422 million last
year to $1.7 billion this year, and would nearly double in 2007 to $3.0 billion,
a $1.2 billion increase that far outstrips the $871 million increase for all NASA
R&D in the Senate plan. Although the goal is to have the new vehicles ready
by 2014, NASA will try to get them launched as soon as 2012 and possibly sooner.
The large
increase for spacecraft development would leave most NASA research programs with
sharp funding cuts, following similar cuts in 2006 (see
Figure 1). Although NASA is a large supporter of physical sciences research, it
was left out of the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) to boost
physical sciences, and its support for physical sciences research and other research
would fall dramatically in the 2007 budget. Aeronautics research funding would
fall $120 million or 13.6 percent down to $764 million after large cuts the previous
two years; in real terms, the aeronautics research portfolio would be half its
size of a decade ago (see Figure 1). Human Systems Research and Technology would
fare even worse and be cut in half in just one year, from $624 million down to
$276 million in 2007, after enduring a 30 percent cut this year. Human Systems
would be just a shadow of its former self, when it was the Biological and Physical
Research portfolio and funded a broad range of life and physical sciences. Now,
the program is tightly focused on research related to human exploration of the
solar system such as physiology research and behavioral research on how humans
respond to long space flights, with vanishing amounts for non-human exploration
research. The
Science portfolio of earth observations, astronomy, and robotic exploration of
the solar system and universe would be protected overall from cuts in 2007, but
the $5.3 billion Senate appropriation for Science (up 0.8 percent) would be well
below the $5.5 billion 2005 funding level. Science is divided into the three themes
of Solar System Exploration (SSE), the Universe, and the Earth-Sun System (see
Table). Funding for all three themes would remain flat in the Senate plan, but
would follow sharp cuts in 2006. The Senate would leave in place steep requested
cuts in some Science programs: the astrobiology research portfolio in SSE would
be cut in half and many space science and earth science programs would be reduced.
The Explorers program of low-budget spacecraft would be reduced by 20 percent,
resulting in no launches at all between 2009 and 2012. The Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) project was scheduled to end abruptly in the 2007
budget, but this month NASA announced that the project would go forward, though
it is unclear how it would be funded next year. One possibility is that the $98.5
million request for the Space Interferometry Mission
could be diverted, as a result of this month’s NASA announcement that the mission
would be refocused. Some
programs would gain, both inside and outside the Science portfolio: funding for
the Mars Science Laboratory, planned for launch in 2009, would see its funding
surge from $253 million to $348 million. Ballooning development costs would force the James Webb
Space Telescope funding to increase 22 percent to $443 million in Universe, even
as the launch date is pushed back to 2013. But these programs would be few and
far between in an overall NASA research landscape marked by flat funding or cuts.
The Senate would also add on funding for congressional earmarks, but it is unclear
by how much: the Senate report accompanying the bill contains a long list of congressionally
designated projects to specific performers, but does not specify how much these
projects should receive. Meanwhile,
NASA plans to keep construction funding for the International Space Station (ISS)
on track in the FY 2007 budget. The ISS budget would rise 3.3 percent to $1.8
billion; once the Space Shuttle resumes a regular schedule, it is expected to
carry Station components into orbit so that construction can resume toward a target
completion date of 2010, followed by decommissioning by 2014.  Figure
1. (click on image for PDF) Impacts of NASA R&D The Outlook
and Next Steps The
House has approved its Science-State-Justice-Commerce appropriations bill, but
the Senate may not take up its CJS bill until September or later. A final, compromise
appropriation may not be ready until after the November elections, although when
it does appear it is likely to contain the large R&D increase for NASA.
But the fate of the Senate’s $1.04 billion in emergency funding is unclear; in
recent years, a vocal group of House fiscal conservatives has resisted attempts
to designate domestic spending as emergency except for natural disasters, and
they are likely to oppose most of the additional NASA dollars. This analysis is one of a series
of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on FY 2007 congressional appropriations. The complete
series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses
of R&D in FY 2007 appropriations, is available on the AAAS
R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd)
in the “FY 2007 R&D” or the “What’s
New” sections.) -
July 25, 2006
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Avenue,
NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
AAAS R&D Web site: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd
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