(Earth Sciences) House Rpt.107-740 VA-HUD Appropriations Bill 2003
EARTH SCIENCES
Within the Earth Sciences portion of this account, the Committee
recommends $1,675,000,000, a net increase of $46,600,000 to the budget
request.
The Committee commends the work of the New Jersey NASA Specialized
Center of Research and Training and its application not only to long
duration space missions but its impact on the agricultural and
environmental business sectors. The Committee encourages NASA to
continue funding these vital efforts and recommends the agency create a
technology development and demonstration center focusing on life support
issues in closed environments in New Jersey.
The fiscal year 2002 appropriations bill and accompanying reports
gave NASA Congressional direction to establish an implementation plan
for Earth science applications partnerships. NASA completed the report
on its implementation plan in June of 2002 and forwarded the report to
the Committee for its review. The Committee has reviewed the report and
finds that it offers a good basis on which to build a credible program
utilizing remote sensing data from the Earth Observing System.
Accordingly, the Committee recommendations do not include any funding
for new remote sensing applications centers, but urges NASA to follow
through with its implementation plan which calls for a widely competed
program.
The Committee recommends the following adjustments to the budget
request:
1. An increase of $650,000 for the NASA Center for Marine Remote
Sensing at the University of New England.
2. An increase of $2,000,000 for the Advanced Tropical Remote Sensing
Center of the National Center for Tropical Remote Sensing Applications
and resources at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science.
3. An increase of $500,000 for continuation of emerging research that
applies remote sensing technologies to forest management practices at
the State University of New York, College of Environmental Sciences and
Forestry.
4. An increase of $2,500,000 for NASA’s Regional Application Center
for the Northeast.
5. An increase of $15,000,000 for the Institute of Software Research
for development and construction of research facilities.
6. An increase of $1,750,000 for on-going activities at the Goddard
Institute for Systems, Software, and Technology Research, including UAV
and remote sensing technology research.
7. An increase of $1,000,000 for the Clustering and Advanced Visual
Environments initiative.
8. An increase of $6,000,000 for data storage back-up and recovery
managed services that supports the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
programs, providing heterogeneous support to existing information
systems and scalability to serve future requirements.
9. An increase of $10,000,000 to be transferred to the Air Force
Research Laboratory (PE 602204F Aerospace Sensors) to develop dual-use
lightweight space radar technology.
10. An increase of $1,500,000 for the United States portion of a
joint U.S./Italian satellite development program to remotely observe
forest fires.
11. An increase of $2,000,000 for the Little River Canyon field school.
