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MESSAGE FROM THE DPS CHAIR ON NASA BUDGET

The Administration's FY03 Budget Proposal for NASA has a surprising amount of good news, but is not without some bad news as well.

First the good news:

There is much good news in this budget and a lot for which to be grateful. The Administration has proposed to support an unprecedented long-term plan for planetary science and exploration. This budget provides for an increase in planetary Research and Analysis programs for the first time in over a decade, maintains the current level of support for the Mars program, provides for a new Discovery-times-two line of missions, and adds money for the development of nuclear power and propulsion technologies.

The New Frontier missions are capped at twice the cost of the Discovery line, and funding was provided in the out-years for 3-4 missions in the next decade. The first AO will be issued this year. The New Frontier missions are to be competitively procured just as in the Discovery program, opening up broad new opportunities for the planetary science community.

Development of nuclear power and propulsion will enable nothing short of a revolution in the way in which we explore the Solar System, moving us out of the Conestoga wagon era and into the railroad era of exploration to quote Ed Weiler. We can now realistically think about shorter direct flights to the planets, on-site lifetimes of years to decades, orbiters moving from one planetary body to the next in one mission, rovers moving across planetary surfaces for years, and power no longer a premium for science investigations with video data rates direct to Earth.

And all of this at a time when one could have expected a large sacrifice in NASA programs to support more urgent national priorities. Here are a few number comparisons to consider. The FY02 budget called for a 49% increase in the planetary budget over the years FY02-FY06. That is remarkable enough, but even after Sept 11 the Administration proposes to increase that to 73% over the years FY03-FY07. This includes a 25% increase in planetary flight missions in FY03 compared to a 12% increase in National Defense during a time of war! Most Federal programs grew by only 2% in FY03 in this budget, while NASA planetary grows by more than double that number.

Why did this happen despite huge external pressure on the NASA budget from national priorities and huge internal pressure from the International Space Station? Because planetary exploration is a performer and the OMB has been a strong supporter of planetary science and exploration in recent years in spite of the difficulties it perceives in the current outer planets program.

And now the bad news:

The New Frontiers line comes at the cost of the current Pluto/Kuiper-Belt and Europa orbiter missions. The Administration replaced these two missions with the New Frontier line based on an OMB judgment that the Outer Planets line had been performing poorly to cost and had no clear articulation of priorities.

They have taken away our bus tickets to Pluto and Europa and given us a book of airline tickets to anywhere in the Solar System we want to go. That's hard to turn down, and it doesn't mean we still can't choose to go to Pluto and Europa. The science behind these two missions remains compelling. New Frontier mission destinations will be determined by the priorities laid out on the basis of substantial community input in the forthcoming Decadal Report. The case for Pluto has been made to NRC committee preparing this report. A mission to search for direct evidence of subsurface oceans on the Galilean satellites may be too expensive for New Frontiers, but could be significantly enhanced by the nuclear technologies scheduled to be available not much later than its current planned launch date.

We have criticized the Administration for undermining the competitive process by canceling the New Horizon mission to Pluto. The chapter is not closed on that mission. At the same time, we must applaud NASA for expanding planetary-wide opportunities with the New Frontiers program and for recognizing that competition for these new missions is a proven way of controlling costs and maximizing science return.

What's next:

The process now moves to the US Congress. I urge you all to support these exciting new proposals for planetary science, support the NRC Decadal Report (to which you all contributed) after it is released, and work with the Congress this Spring and Summer to insure the best possible future for the entirety of planetary exploration from the recommendations of both the Decadal Report and the Administration's budget proposal. The surprising support we have gained so far is not automatic in the Congress, and our voice must be heard on Capitol Hill to secure their support as well. The DPS Committee will be informing you as this process proceeds including how you may help. In the meantime, find out who your representatives are by visiting the DPS website, or at http://www.aas.org/policy/Contact.html. Send them letters and visit with them or their staff members in DC or when they are home in your district.

Wesley T. Huntress, Jr.

MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Magnetospheres of the Outer Planets Conference 29 July - 2 August 2002, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory http://www.jhuapl.edu/mop/

mop@spacemsg.jhuapl.edu This conference provides a forum for research on outer planet magnetospheres including global structure and dynamics, aurora, satellite interactions, rings and dust and magnerosphere-ionosphere- atmosphere coupling. ABSTRACT DEADLINE May 24, 2002