Hearing Charter: House Science Committee: NASA’s FY2003 Budget Request
Committee on Science
U.S. House of Representatives
Hearing Charter
NASA’s FY2003 Budget Request
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
2318 Rayburn House Office Building
1. Purpose
On Wednesday, February 27 at 10:00 am, the House Science Committee will hold a hearing on President Bush’s budget request for NASA. The Committee will receive testimony from the Honorable Sean O’Keefe, NASA Administrator. He has been asked to describe the scientific priorities reflected in the FY03 budget request, the criteria by which these priorities were established, the high priority technologies that will be developed, and the program and management changes contemplated to support the President’s Management Agenda.
2. Issues
2. The Administration’s Program Scorecard for NASA
The FY 2003 Budget introduces five government-wide management reform areas representing the Administration’s view of the “government’s most glaring problems.” Each Agency was evaluated in terms of their compliance with these programs and provided with a green, yellow, or red score. An agency was provided a green score if it met all of the standards for success, yellow if it achieved some but not all of the standards, and red if it had any serious flaws. [2]
The five management reform areas include:
- Human Capital – attracting talented people to the Federal Government;
- Competitive Sourcing – increasing the number of programs subject to market competition;
- Financial Management – increasing the timeliness, quality, and usefulness of financial data;
- E-Gov – increasing the number of Federal transactions that can be conducted online; and
- Budget/Performance Integration – setting performance targets and shifting resources to effective programs.
NASA scored Red in Human Capital, Competitive Sourcing, E-Government, and Integrating Budget and Performance and Yellow for Improved Financial Management. NASA plans to address OMB’s criticisms with several corrective strategies. For example, while NASA’s financial management and accounting was criticized for not supporting daily operations, NASA plans to accelerate a new Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP). Other corrective measures include converting or competing at least 50 percent of NASA’s civil service positions to “commercial” positions and to reduce NASA’s role as owner of infrastructure by competitively sourcing shuttle operations.
In addition, the Administration developed performance criteria for applied R&D designed to ensure that research programs fulfill an essential Federal role, have well-developed plans to achieve objectives, and achieve results that benefit the Nation. The budget documents do not provide a complete description of these criteria and how they were applied.
OMB Ratings on Selected NASA Programs
| EFFECTIVE | |
| Discovery and Explorer Programs | Space Science missions competitively selected from researcher proposals. Successful cost/risk management. |
| MODERATELY EFFECTIVE | |
| Mars Exploration | Robotic exploration of Mars. Completed major restructuring in wake of spacecraft failures. Recovery from failures successful so far. |
| Space Launch Initiative | Preparation for competition to replace the Space Shuttle with lower cost vehicles. Need to better understand key requirements and manage risks. |
| Earth Observation System | Satellite remote sensing to understand global climate change. Need improved integration with federal climate change and application efforts. |
| Aeronautics Research | Technology research to improve the nation’s aviation system and for breakthrough aircraft. Need to better transfer technology to users. |
| INEFFECTIVE | |
| Outer Planets Program | Major planetary science missions. Large cost increases and schedule delays. Budget proposes program restructuring. |
| Space Shuttle Safety Upgrades | Need to address large cost overruns and schedule delays to improve Shuttle safety through effective investments. |
| International Space Station (ISS) | Supports space-based biological and physical research. Effective technically, but needs much better management controls to eliminate huge cost overruns. |
Source: President’s FY2003 Budget Request
NASA’s FY03 budget request is $15 billion, $98 million – or 0.7% over the FY02 appropriation.ÊÊ The Human Space Flight (HSF) Account budget is reduced by $699.2 million (10.2%). The Science, Aeronautics and Technology (SAT) budget request is increased by $796.7 million (9.9%). The primary reason behind the shift in accounts is that the costs for Space Communications and Data Systems operations of the Deep Space Network, Ground Networks, and Western Aeronautical Test Range were transferred from the HSF to the SAT budget lines.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(budget authority, dollars in millions)
| PROGRAM | FY 2002 Enacted | FY 2003 Request | Change |
| HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT | 6,830.1 | 6,130.9 | -10.2% |
| Space Station | 1,721.7 | 1,492.1 | -13.3% |
| Space Shuttle | 3,272.8 | 3,208.0 | -2.0% |
| Payload and ELV Support | 91.3 | 87.5 | -4.2% |
| HEDS Investment and Support | 1,214.5 | 1,178.2 | -3.0% |
| Space Communications & Data Systems | 482.2 | 117.5 | -75.6% |
| Safety, Mission Assurance & Engineering | 47.6 | 47.6 | 0.0% |
| SCIENCE, AERONAUTICS & TECHNOLOGY | 8,047.8 | 8,844.5 | 9.9% |
| Space Science | 2,867.1 | 3,414.3 | 19.1% |
| Biological and Physical Research | 820.0 | 842.3 | 2.7% |
| Earth Science | 1,625.7 | 1,628.4 | 0.2% |
| Aerospace Technology | 2,507.7 | 2,815.8 | 12.3% |
| Academic Programs | 227.3 | 143.7 | -36.8% |
| INSPECTOR GENERAL | 23.7 | 24.6 | 3.8% |
| SUBTOTAL BUDGET AUTHORITY | 14,901.6 | 15,000.0 | 0.7% |
| FULL FUNDING FOR FEDERAL PENSIONS* | 111.0 | 117.0 | |
| TOTAL INCLUDING FEDERAL PENSIONS | 15,012.7 | 15,117.0 |
Source: Staff Analysis
Note: FY02 Enacted funding includes $108.5 million for Emergency Response Fund
* Funding for Federal Retirees not distributed by Enterprise
Major Budget Items and New Initiatives
| Program | FY03 Budget Request | Brief Description |
| International Space Station | $1.49 billion | Management reforms and cost estimates being developed and implemented. |
| Space Shuttle | $3.21 billion | Reduced flight rate to 4-5 flights per year after FY02;Ê reduced safety upgrades to fund only near-term improvements; funds shuttle infrastructure needs. |
| Advanced Space Transportation | $880 million | Increases Space Launch Initiative funding $300 million despite lack of understanding of key requirements of cost and safety; criticized for lack of space flight demonstrators. |
| Aeronautics R&D | $541.4 million | Reduction of $58 million continues several years of declining budget requests for aeronautics R&D. |
| Landsat Data Continuity Mission | $45 million | Commercial data purchase that ensures continued availability of Landsat data to the research community. |
| New Programs | ||
| Space Radiation and Generations Initiatives | $21.3 million | Increase understanding of low-Earth orbit radiation hazards; study several generations of organisms exposed to various space radiation environments. |
| Nuclear Systems Initiative | $125.5 million | Space nuclear power and propulsion for deep space outer planets exploration and Mars landers. |
| New Frontiers Program | $15 million | Cancel Pluto-Kuiper mission and defer Europa Orbiter for reformulated deep space outer planets program. |
International Space Station
The budget request for the ISS is reduced byÊ $229 million (13.3 percent) toÊ $1.49 billion. The reduction primarily reflects the fact that 98% of the hardware for the U.S. Core has been developed. Based on substantial completion of the U.S. Core, the ISS budget is within the Congressionally mandated $25 billion cost cap. Consistent with the ISS Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force chaired by Tom Young, NASA plans to implement several management reforms over the next two years and develop a credible cost estimate by September 2002. OMB, OSTP, and NASA are currently developing management criteria to judge NASA’s progress toward implementing these reforms. If these criteria are successfully met over the next two years, the Administration will address expanding ISS capability beyond the U.S. Core.
Expanded ISS capability, if any, will be based on research priorities and ISS utilization criteria that OSTP and NASA develop in consultation with the scientific community over the coming year. Over the next year, NASA may select a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to manage biological and physical research aboard the Space Station, similar to the NGO created to manage Hubble Space Telescope research. An implementation plan on how NASA will enter into an agreement with an NGO to conduct ISS research and commercialization was due to Congress on September 30, 2001.
Biological and Physical Research
NASA proposes to increase Biological and Physical Research by 3 percent to $842.3 million in FY03. The Space Radiation Initiative will study the radiation environment beyond low-Earth orbit and develop countermeasures for long-duration radiation exposure to humans. The Generations Initiative will study the capacity for terrestrial life to evolve in the zero gravity, high radiation environment in space. NASA will be further defining its plans to optimize and competitively select biological and physical research experiments.
Space Shuttle
NASA proposes to reduce the Space Shuttle budget by 2 percent to $3.21 billion from the FY02 operating plan. As part of this reduction, the number of shuttle flights will be reduced from six or seven flights per year to four or five flights. NASA is currently studying the necessary commercial business, policy, and legislative conditions to privatize the Shuttle and transfer operations responsibility from government to the private sector. Shuttle competitive sourcing criteria are outlined in the President’s Budget Request to address safety, cost savings from reducing NASA infrastructure, commercial business plans, and other criteria. Space shuttle upgrades are planned on only those improvements (Cockpit Avionics Upgrade Phase I, Space Shuttle Main Engine Health Monitoring System Phase I, and External Tank) that can be implemented by 2007 within reasonable cost estimates. Shuttle upgrade plans anticipate an operational next generation space transportation system by 2012. This second generation orbiter is under the development of NASA’s Space Launch Initiative with a go-ahead decision planned in 2006. The budget request also increases funds to repair the aging Shuttle infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space Science
NASA proposes to increase the Space Science program by $547.3 million (19.1 percent) over the FY02 operating plan. The FY03 budget request eliminates the Outer Planets Program (those planets beyond Mars in the solar system), cancels Pluto-Kuiper Express and defers the Europa Orbiter mission. Last year, the Senate provided $30 million for a Pluto mission; however, it did not include a commitment for further funding. To meet its launch deadline in 2006, the Pluto mission would require more than $200 million in FY2003. New initiatives in the Space Science budget include the “Nuclear Systems Initiative,” designed in cooperation with the Department of Energy, to develop nuclear power and nuclear electric propulsion systems for exploration of the outer solar system and Mars. The “New Frontiers Program” would develop mid-size planetary missions (each under $650 million in cost) in accordance with outer planets exploration science priorities currently under development by the National Academy of Sciences. The missions would build on the power system developments of the Nuclear Systems Initiative. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would enter the development phase in FY03 to build on the results of the Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions.
Earth Science
NASA proposes to increase the Earth Science program by $2.7 million (.02 percent) to $1.63 billion. ÊIncluded in the Earth Science budget request are funds for the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) and funds for an Ocean Topography Mission to follow the Jason mission launched in 2001. NASA, as part of the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program, is currently reviewing its program plans after the Administration’s recently announced approach for global climate change studies. Since the Administration directed NASA not to formulate any plans for new missions until this review was completed, NASA did not initiate any new Earth Science programs beyond the current systems already underway in time for the release of the FY03 President’s Budget Request. The budget request continues previously initiated projects such as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a commercial data purchase designed to ensure the continued availability of data to the research community.
Aerospace Technology
NASA proposes to increase the Aerospace Technology Enterprise budget by $308.1 million or 12 percent. The increase is primarily directed to the Advanced Space Transportation/Space Launch Initiative. Based on Congressional direction in the FY02 appropriations, the Aerospace Technology account is restructured into four sub-accounts to better distinguish aeronautics research from other space transportation, technology development, and commercial technology efforts. The FY03 budget request proposes spending $541.4 million for aeronautics R&D, a $58 million reduction from the FY02 appropriation that continues several years of declining budget requests for aeronautics R&D.
While NASA’s budget request proposes an aggressive collaboration in aeronautics R&D with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), recent technology developments ended only in mixed results for transfer to the FAA and industry. The Aerospace Commission, created by Congress and chaired by former Congressman Bob Walker, recently recommended that the President and Congress create a multi-agency coordinating council with the responsibility and authority to implement an integrated plan to reach the national objective of meeting air traffic capacity demands. Coincident with the release of the President’s FY03 budget, NASA issued a new “Aeronautics Blueprint” that will serve as its strategic roadmap for research and development, tracking closely the programmatic structure incorporated in the Administration’s budget request. The “Blueprint” identifies four primary focus areas: The Airspace System; Revolutionary Vehicles; Aviation Security and Safety; and State of the Art Educated Workforce. The FY03 budget request eliminates the Rotorcraft R&D program.
The Advanced Space Transportation Program, which includes the Space Launch Initiative 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle and Space Transfer and Launch Technology programs, requests $880 million in FY03. The Space Launch Initiative has a three-pronged strategy: 1) to invest in technology development and other activities needed to enable full-scale development by 2006 and operations by early next decade of a commercially competitive, privately owned and operated launch vehicle that will be cheaper and safer than today’s rockets; 2) to develop a coordinated approach that leverages commercial launch systems to the greatest extent possible to meet NASA’s needs while NASA focuses development funds on its unique requirements; 3) to purchase cargo resupply services for the International Space Station using near-term commercial launch vehicles to serve as a backup capability for the U.S. Space Shuttle and the Russian Progress vehicles. However, issues have been raised about the SLI’s ability to meet optimistic expectations for cost and safety and the lack of investments in space demonstrations. NASA is currently in discussions with the Air Force about collaborating on certain technology developments. NASA and the Air Force will complete their “120 day” study on options for a joint program later this spring. The President’s Program Scorecard recognized the need for SLI to better understand key requirements and manage risk.
NASA Academic Programs
The FY03 NASA Academic Programs budget request is $143.7 million, 36.8 percent below FY02 enacted funding due to $73.6 million in Congressional earmarks to various academic institutions.
Inspector General
The FY03 Inspector General budget request of $24.6 million increased 3.8 percent primarily for inflation.
Institutional Support & Federal Pensions
The President’s Budget Request for Institutional Support at all ten NASA Centers is $2.91 billion inFY03. This cost represents personnel, travel, operations support, construction, and environmental management. Since FY02, Institutional Support costs for the NASA Centers are allocated against the appropriate Enterprises based on the number of federal employees in each NASA Enterprise. Institutional Support also includes emergency security funding requested in FY02 and continued in FY03 in order to pay for additional space shuttle security at the Kennedy Space Center and other NASA centers.
Emergency Response Funds
In FY2002, NASA received $108.5 million in Emergency Response Funds for increase security following the September 11th tragedy.
