The final $789 billion federal stimulus package includes $1 billion for NASA, with the following breakdown:
- $400 million for science
- $150 million for aeronautics
- $400 million for exploration
- $50 million for cross agency support
- $2 million for the Inspector General's office
There's no detail yet on how the exploration funds would be spent, once approved, but a spending plan would be due within 60 days.
How do you think the money would be spent best?
Click "Read more..." to see the legislation's official language for NASA.
You can also click here to sift through a PDF of the 496-page appropriations section of the bill.
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
SCIENCE
For an additional amount for "Science", $400,000,000.
AERONAUTICS
For an additional amount for "Aeronautics", $150,000,000.
EXPLORATION
For an additional amount for "Exploration", $400,000,000.
CROSS AGENCY SUPPORT
For an additional amount for "Cross Agency Support", $50,000,000.
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
For an additional amount for "Office of Inspector General", $2,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2013.
Statement
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
NASA is directed to submit to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations a spending plan, signed by the Administrator, detailing its intended allocation of funds provided in this Act within 60 days of enactment of this Act.
SCIENCE
The conference agreement includes $400,000,000 for Science, to remain available until September 30,2010. Funding is included herein to accelerate the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies Decadal Survey and to increase the agency's supercomputing capabilities.
AERONAUTICS
The conference agreement includes $150,000,000 for aeronautics, to remain available until September 30,2010. These funds are available for system-level research, development and demonstration activities related to aviation safety, environmental impact mitigation and the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).
EXPLORATION
The conference agreement includes $400,000,000 for exploration, to remain available until September 30, 2010.
CROSS AGENCY SUPPORT
The conference agreement includes $50,000,000 for cross agency support, to remain available until September 30, 2010. In allocating these funds, NASA shall give its highest priority to restore NASA-owned facilities damaged from hurricanes and other natural disasters occurring during calendar year 2008.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
6 comments:
Compared to all of the other wild spending in the Pork-ulus bill, this is a joke.
You would think that Obama would like to really increase the NASA budget, since he's a 'space guy'.
These numbers are probably good for one new system, or one new Mars Rover... Not much really.
Rick Steele
Sarasota
P.S. Hey guys, why are you making it so hard to post comments? It seems that its getting harder and harder to respond to your site. The "Select Profile" listing usually doesn't work, and my notes keep getting rejected.
A little help, please?
Hey Rick:
Great to hear from you.
Sorry you are having trouble. I'm not sure what the problem is. I've also noticed that first attempts to publish get bounced back for whatever reason. But when I push publish a second time it always seems to go straight through....also realize that wse have to moderate comments before they go for obvious reasons. And that might take some time if we all are away from our computers.....
P.S.:I just got the dreaded red letters: "Your Request could not be processed. Please try again."
We'll see what happens....
What does this mean for the fate of the space shuttle? Supposedly what to do about the shuttle is one of 13 of Obama's critical issues to decide early. I'm still hoping NASA gets the money it needs to fly the shuttle for another five years while developing Ares. Is this still possible?
Thanks,
Mark
This is the sort of nebulous unfocused "goals" that seem to have NASA constantly in a tailspin.
Why not a stimulus package for relevant NASA centers that has specificity, like X dollars to Shuttle Replacement, Y dollars for robotic exploration, Z dollars for a given aeronautics project and so forth and so on.
People who work for the Agency and contractors need jobs, not a pile of money awaiting more political fighting. And to think we have yet to see the first budget proposal from the new administration.
This may be a little off-topic, for which I apologize. However, to those people "in the know" who read these comments: has anyone considered, even in conversation or on the proverbial cocktail napkin, whether it would be possible to strap on several castors to the Ares I first stage to get a boost in performance? Might it help mitigate some of the vibration issues? Or would it simply add complexity and cost without much benefit? Thanks for any insight.
$400M of a $787,000M bill comes to 5 100ths of 1 percent. I can tell, they are not that enthused in wanting to go to the moon again.
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