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#1 2020-12-22 17:38:10

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Nasa 2021 Budget

So what did NASA get to be able to make the SLS flight possible…

NASA receives $23.3 billion for 2021 fiscal year in Congress' omnibus spending bill

NASA's Artemis program to land humans on the moon by 2024 faces fresh challenges after a fiscal 2021 NASA spending bill allocated less money to the human landing system than what the agency requested.

Congress released an omnibus spending bill Monday (Dec. 21) allotting $23.3 billion to NASA. The bill was released a day after Congress agreed to an accompanying $892 billion coronavirus relief package; all U.S. agencies (including NASA) are now funded through Dec. 28 to avoid a potential government shutdown.

While NASA will receive $642 million more than fiscal year 2020, the bill falls about $2 billion short of the agency's $25.246 billion request, according to SpaceNews. In particular, the human landing system (HLS) program of Artemis only received $850 million, roughly a quarter of NASA's $3.3 billion request.

What was important was that NASA Authorization Act. was a 100 – 0 vote by the divided Senate does signal a strong support for NASA and sends a clear message of bipartisan endorsement for the Artemis program and the human landing system.

Of course here is some of what we will get

Some of the other key elements of the NASA spending bill of note, according to SpaceNews, are:

Funding several science missions that the Trump administration originally sought to cancel, including the PACE and CLARREO Pathfinder Earth science missions, the Roman Space Telescope, and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). 

Funding NASA's education programs (which the administration attempted to remove.)
Drastically cutting NASA's commercial low Earth orbit development program for successors to the International Space Station to $17 million, about 10 percent of its $150 million request.

Allocating $1.1 billion for space technology programs, at the same level as 2020 but much less than the administration's $1.6 billion request. (Some programs, such as on-orbit servicing and nuclear thermal propulsion, received more money than requested.)

Telling NASA to launch the Europa Clipper to the icy moon of Jupiter on the SLS providing it is available and if the spacecraft is compatible with the rocket, which seems to refer to concern about these matters over the summer.

Providing $156.4 million for NASA's planetary defense programs, and asking the agency to "request adequate resources" for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – expected to launch next year – and the Near Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM) space telescope expected to launch in 2025. NASA, however, said earlier in December that it delayed reviewing NEOSM due to budget uncertainty for the mission.

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#2 2020-12-22 19:08:05

Calliban
Member
From: Northern England, UK
Registered: 2019-08-18
Posts: 3,352

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

SLS.  Is there actually any point at all to this programme, given that Musk's rockets can now offer the same launch services at a fraction of the price?


"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

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#3 2020-12-22 19:41:09

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

according to the sn 50 we are a long ways from flights that starship let alone bfr will be combined enough to give a full flight test.

If we look at how many years for the development of the first less than 10 we are looking if the pace is kept up 4 or more years  just to see if they can even fuel it up all the way without crushing its stages....let alone not blowing them up due to construction issues....

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#4 2021-01-24 20:02:05

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

NASA chief administrator Jim Bridenstine resigned Wednesday, Biden promptly appointed Steve Jurczyk as acting administrator. Jurczyk has served as associate administrator since 2018 and has worked with the agency since 1988.

Biden has expressed interest in returning American astronauts to the moon and sending people to Mars, he hasn’t even hinted at any timelines. A statement from Jurczyk and senior White House appointee Bhavya Lal stated, “We are excited about the opportunities that await us — the Perseverance Mars landing; the next Launch America mission; our focus on the study of our home planet; and returning American astronauts to the surface of the Moon, and then on to Mars.”

Nasa has a tall order to deliver a flight to the moon by 2024.....

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#5 2021-01-24 20:37:27

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,760

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

for SpaceNut re #4

Re "tall order" .... It's a tall order if they stay with the SLS .... It might be next year, if they ask Elon and company to handle the flight.

***
If you run across any reports on Steve Jurczyk I'd be interested in seeing them.

I'll watch out for anything along those lines as well.

(th)

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#6 2021-05-29 16:56:01

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

NASA requests $24.8 billion in 2022, proposes to cancel SOFIA again, there was a similar mission the Kuiper Airborne Observatory
https://spacenews.com/nasa-requests-24- … fia-again/
A previous discussion here said it was 'military in nature for tracking incoming warheads'? but maybe it did make nice pictures like the Hubble

Studies of composition of planetary atmospheres, looking at evolution and composition of comets; determine the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium.
https://www.seeker.com/sofia-sees-jupit … 60222.html

Found Oxygen in Mars
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/sofia … atmosphere

https://www.slashgear.com/nasa-wants-a- … -29675126/
'One mission isn’t getting more money. NASA proposes to cancel the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) program. It’s a modified Boeing 747 equipped with a 2.5-meter telescope that would perform observations above infrared-absorbing water vapor in the lower atmosphere. NASA says that the high cost to operate the program at about $85 million annually wouldn’t be justified by the science it produces '

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#7 2021-05-29 17:07:39

louis
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2008-03-24
Posts: 7,208

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

I used to  think NASA should be split up into a Space Science Agency and a Mars-Moon Exploratory Agency. Now, I think they are pretty much irrelevant to anything that's going to happen on Mars, except Space X will likely be dependent on their coms and their satellite mapping of Mars. But since Space X and NASA seem on good terms, I hope that augurs well.


Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

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#8 2022-04-19 09:19:53

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

Report Identifies Priority Planetary Science Missions, Planetary Defense Efforts, and Strategic Investments for the Next Decade
http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=59919
"A new decadal survey [Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032] from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies scientific priorities and opportunities and makes funding recommendations to maximize the advancement of planetary science, astrobiology, and planetary defense in the next 10 years. The recommendations by the steering committee for the decadal survey draw on input from the scientific community through the advice of six panels, hundreds of white papers, invited speakers, outreach to advisory groups and professional society conferences, and work with mission-design teams".

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#9 2022-05-04 17:17:05

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

Nelson criticizes “plague” of cost-plus NASA contracts

https://spacenews.com/nelson-criticizes … contracts/

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#10 2022-05-04 19:50:34

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

That is the government way is to ask for more money when it runs out.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson offered a surprisingly strong endorsement of fixed-price contracts and competition at a congressional hearing May 3.

Testifying at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on the agency’s fiscal year 2023 budget proposal, Nelson said the use of competition and fixed-price contracts was essential in its efforts to select a second commercial lunar lander alongside SpaceX’s Starship for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, something that many in Congress have sought.

“Then we would have two landers somewhere in the 2027 time frame, both having already landed,” he said. NASA plans to use the Starship lander for Artemis 3 no earlier than 2025, with the second lander flying as soon as Artemis 5 in 2027.

Senators were largely supportive of NASA’s proposed $26 billion budget for 2023 at the hearing, raising concerns only about minor issues, such as cuts in heliophysics or in support for spaceport infrastructure at the Wallops Flight Facility.

So when we we get the right price as built by Nasa for Nasa contracts to not be so bloated....

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#11 2022-05-28 13:32:28

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

House Appropriators Praise NASA, But Worry About Overruns and Delays

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/statu … 2661207040

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#12 2023-09-25 04:25:34

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

Experts Say NASA’s Mars Sample Return Plan Is Deeply Flawed
https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasas-mar … urn-flawed

The return mission, initially slated for 2026, has always been incredibly ambitious. Still, it's remained highly anticipated; the scientific implications of such a project are vast, and researchers around the globe are eager to get their paws on the coveted Martian samples.

NASA's Decision to Halt New Horizons Mission Sparks Controversy
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/2959 … oversy.htm
NASA's New Horizons mission is still not out of the woods yet.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-09-25 04:27:20)

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#13 2024-03-01 11:23:46

Mars_B4_Moon
Member
Registered: 2006-03-23
Posts: 8,903

Re: Nasa 2021 Budget

budget black hole
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/07/ … l_layoffs/

problems
https://archive.ph/jcfpl

budget news on previous years

Biden
https://archive.fo/p5xnv

Trump
https://archive.fo/x9LzB

2022
https://archive.ph/tM6M0

facing a constricted budget environment in fiscal year 2024
https://archive.ph/tdp7o

2024
https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/ … 024-budget

facing a constricted budget environment in fiscal year 2024
https://archive.ph/tdp7o

2024
https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/ … 024-budget

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2024-03-01 11:38:21)

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