(Space Science) House Rpt.107-740 VA-HUD Appropriations Bill 2003
SPACE SCIENCE
Within the Space Science portion of this account, the Committee
recommends $3,556,200,000, a net increase of $141,900,000 to the budget
request.
The Committee is supportive of the New Frontiers Program as a
competitive process to undertake missions to the outer planets. The
Committee is concerned that the New Frontiers Program as proposed by
NASA may be unduly constrained by a uniform cap on mission costs of $650
million. Since the purpose of the program is to undertake scientifically
valuable missions, the cap should not limit the mission options being
considered. The Committee supports New Frontiers with a flexible cap for
each new opportunity ($500 million to $1 billion in fiscal year 2002
dollars) prior to open competition, giving due consideration to
specified scientific objectives.
The Committee recommends the following adjustments to the budget
request:
1. An increase of $2,500,000 for the Center for Space Sciences at
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.
2. An increase of $105,000,000 for the Kuiper Belt/Pluto mission.
3. An increase of $40,000,000 for the Europa mission. In light of the
high priority by the National Academy decadal study for a Europa Orbiter
Mission and the public support for Europa exploration as indicated by
the recent survey of the Planetary Society, the Committee directs NASA
to conduct a focused technology program and begin Phase A activities to
ensure that this mission is ready at the earliest possible opportunity
and that NASA preserves its core capabilities to implement and manage
such a mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Committee
recommendation includes $30,000,000 for this activity and an additional
$10,000,000 for instrument technology. The Committee is aware that JPL
has an relationships with research universities on its outer planetary
programs and anticipates that a majority of the $10,000,000 million will
be expended solidifying those relationships.
4. An increase of $500,000 for Morehead State University, Kentucky,
for upgrades to its ADAS satellite tracking facility.
5. An increase of $2,000,000 for propulsion testing facilities at the
University of Alabama, Huntsville.
6. An increase of $500,000 for the Ultra-lightweight Electroformed
Segmented Large Aperture Optics program at Alabama A&M University.
7. An increase of $900,000 for High-Energy Photonics Instrumentation
at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
8. An increase of $7,500,000 for development of a lightweight carrier
pallet to support the Hubble Space Telescope program. The recent success
of the Hubble servicing mission has underscored the continued importance
of the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA’s plan for HST has been to
discontinue servicing missions after 2004 in order to create a funding
wedge for the next generation space telescope (NGST), the community’s
highest priority, and to return HST to earth in 2010. Although this
scenario creates an important funding wedge, it also leads to a
significant probability that HST will degrade over the intervening
six-year period and become inoperable well before 2010. This gap may be
so long that HST archival data alone may not sustain a productive
scientific community. The Committee directs that NASA carry out an
in-depth study of possible alternatives to the 2010 return mission that
would increase the probability of operating HST until NGST becomes
available. This study should address the possibility of an additional
servicing mission, SM5, and as an alternative, a final servicing mission
in 2007 in lieu of the 2010 mission that would include a means of
disposing of HST other than by Shuttle return. This study should address
the relative costs of such scenarios, the potential scientific benefits,
and the mission constraints that will need to be considered for the 2010
return mission.
9. An increase of $19,900,000 to the Mars program to cover recent
cost increases. This funding is derived through a decrease in funding
for the flight projects building, a cancelled project at the Jet
Propulsion Lab.
10. A decrease of $10,000,000 from the Nuclear Electric Propulsion
program and a decrease of $7,000,000 from the Nuclear Power System
program.
