NASA FY 2003 Budget Background: Office of Space Science (Code S)

Answers to these questions will not be extracted from narrow inquiries, but will be
built up by combining innumerable individual clues over the years to come. The
broad outlines of much of the puzzle are discernible now, but a clear picture of the
whole awaits years of varied research that will undoubtedly produce many
surprises along the way. In the last 40 years, space probes and space
obser03 bries have played a central role in this fascinating process, and NASA’s
Space Science Enterprise will continue to be at the forefront of the search for the
answers to these major questions.

A summary of Space Science highlights and discoveries during calendar year
2001 is available on the Internet at:

http://spacescience.nasa.gov/

New Initiatives and Other Major Features in the 2003 Budget

A new research program announced by NASA and the Department of Energy, the
Nuclear Systems Initiative , paves the way for an unprecedented capability in the
next decade and beyond, to explore the far reaches of the solar system in the
search for answers to some of the greatest questions in human history.

Safe and proven electrical generating technologies provided by radioisotope
power systems will enable sophisticated mobile laboratories to travel over the
surface of Mars, drilling deep underground at promising sites where signs of life can be sought, and conduct a large variety of other experiments day and night,
around the clock.

Other missions will be able to speed throughout the outer reaches of the solar
system, at speeds as much as two times faster than is possible even with the most
sophisticated space probes available today. Such speed, coupled with numerous
powerful scientific instruments, will allow NASA to consider more ambitious
possibilities involving missions that could travel from one interesting planet, moon
or comet to another for a close-up, in-depth study. The fiscal year 2003 request for
this Initiative is $46.5 million for nuclear electric propulsion and $79 million for
nuclear electrical power-generation systems.

The New Frontiers Program is a new planetary exploration program, structured
and managed along the lines of NASA’s highly successful, Discovery program,
under which missions are selected through open peer-reviewed competitions.
Designed to allow frequent access to space for mid-size planetary missions that
will perform high-quality science investigations, New Frontiers will take advantage
of advances in propulsion and power systems in the nuclear initiative. Missions
will be cost-capped at $650 million in fiscal 2003 dollars with a launch scheduled
48 months from the start of development. $15 million is requested for fiscal 2003.

There is no funding for the New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission in fiscal 2003
and subsequent years. However, preliminary design studies on New Horizons are
continuing through fiscal 2002. Funding for the Europa Orbiter mission was
deleted due to significant cost growth in the missionÕs life cycle.

Major Ongoing Programs

As of the end of December 2001, there are 26 operating Space Science missions, in
addition to the Enterprise’s participation in seven foreign missions. By the end of 2003
Space Science will have 28 operating missions, in addition to participation in eight
foreign missions.

• The Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is a sustained series of missions to
  Mars, each of which will provide long-term, focused scientific return. The
  primary objective is to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic
  system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology
  and whether life ever arose there. The strategy includes a natural
  responsiveness to scientific discoveries that will emerge as new observations
  are made. The fiscal 2003 budget features some alterations in the strategy for
  the missions that will be launched after 2005. The fiscal 2003 request for the
  Mars Exploration program is $453.6 million.


• The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, launched April 7, 2001, is now in its
  science orbit around Mars, having just recently completed its aerobraking
  maneuvers to achieve its final orbit.
• The twin Mars Exploration Rovers are being prepared for launch in the
  summer of 2003, and will arrive at their landing sites on the surface of the
  Red Planet about seven months later. The mission of the MER rovers is to
  find conclusive evidence of water-affected materials on the surface. They
  are designed to effectively serve as robotic field geologists, and they will
  provide the first microscopic study of rocks and soils on Mars.
• The 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is now in the formulation
  stage. The MRO will use its new observational tools, some of which could
  resolve beach ball-sized objects and their mineralogies, to search for clues
  within the Martian landscape of telltale layers and materials associated
  with action of liquid water.
• In 2007, NASA will launch a Mars Scout mission, which will be fully
  competed and competitively selected. In addition, NASA will provide
  programmatic and technical support to international Mars missions. These
  missions are the NASA-Italian Space Agency (ASI) telecommunications
  orbiter and the French Space AgencyÕs Orbiter including NetLanders.
• The next major step will be NASA’s 2009 Mars Smart Lander (MSL)/Mobile
  Laboratory, a long-duration roving science lab intended to confirm the
  surface presence of water-related minerals and carbonates and their
  formational histories. The MSL will be a pathfinder to those sites that offer
  the highest probability of harboring Martian ÒfossilsÓ or other forms of
  indicators of past life. It will serve as both a scientific and technological
  pathfinder for future missions, including sample return. The 2009 Smart
  Lander/Mobile Laboratory will take advantage of the advances in nuclear
  power technology. By incorporating improved nuclear power systems,
  NASA can extend the operability of the rover from months to years, greatly
  increasing the scientific return of this mission.


• NASAÕs currently operating Great Observatories — the Hubble Space
  Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory — are on the forefront of
  astronomical research. Hubble is the first scientific mission of any kind that is
  specifically designed for routine servicing by spacewalking astronauts. In
  February 2002, NASA will launch the second part of the Third Servicing
  Mission (SM-3B) to the Hubble Space Telescope . During this mission,
  astronauts will replace the failed attitude control gyros, install a new science
  instrument — the Advanced Camera for Surveys, replace the flexible solar
  arrays, restore the near-infrared imaging instrumentÕs cooling capability, and
  undertake the complex and difficult replacement of the power control unit. The
  fiscal 2003 request for Hubble development is $138.9 million.
• NASA’s next Great Observatory, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or
  SIRTF , will explore the nature of the cosmos through the unique windows
  available in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The launch of
  SIRTF has had to be delayed to afford time to resolve software and other

  technical problems. The July 2002 launch date has been delayed to no earlier
  than December 2002. The fiscal 2003 request is $47.4 million.

• HESSI, the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager , will study the dynamics
  of solar flares, the tremendous explosions in the atmosphere of the Sun.
  HESSI will be able to produce high-resolution spectrographic movies of solar
  flares, allowing scientists to study the life cycle of a flare. HESSI is scheduled
  for launch in February 2002.
• Albert EinsteinÕs theory of general relativity is the most accepted theory of
  gravitation and the large-scale structure of the Universe. NASAÕs Gravity
  Probe B mission is designed to verify EinsteinÕs theory, which up to now has
  only been tested through astronomical observation and Earth-based
  experiments. Whether the experiment confirms or contradicts EinsteinÕs theory,
  its results will be of the highest scientific importance. The fiscal 2003 request of
  $19.7 million supports an October 2002 launch.
• The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), scheduled for launch in May 2002, is
  a Small Explorer mission that will map the global history and probe the causes
  of star formation over most of the life of the Universe. GALEX will investigate
  the period over which galaxies have evolved dramatically, and the time that
  most stars, elements and galaxy disks had their origins.
• The Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour), scheduled for launch in July 2002, will fly
  past two comets and take images of the comets’ nuclei, as well as collect and
  analyze comet dust.
• The Space Science Research Program develops the theoretical tools and
  laboratory data needed to analyze flight data, and supplies the resources for
  future mission needs and the analysis of data returned from operating
  spacecraft in hopes to answer the fundamental questions governing the role of
  the Space Science Enterprise. The fiscal 2003 request for this program is
  $709.6 million.

Beginning in fiscal 2003, the budget for the Deep Space Network (DSN) is
included in Space Science, consistent with Òfull costÓ budgeting and
management. The transfer of management responsibility for the DSN to the Office
of Space Science has already begun. NASAÕs Jet Propulsion Laboratory is
working with its industry contract partners to transform the DSN and associated
mission operations system architecture into a service-provision system known as
the Deep Space Mission System (DSMS). The DSMS will provide a customer-oriented,
turnkey service that seamlessly integrates the facilities of the DSN and
the Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS). This system will
enable more efficient provision of currently available services as well as the
creation of new services. The fiscal 2003 request is $385.2 million.

Programs Under Development or Study

The Space Science Enterprise has a number of other programs under
development, or under study for possible future development. More information
on these programs can be found on the Internet at

http://spacescience.nasa.gov/