Outspoken: Mike Griffin on the NASA budget

摘要

NASA head Mike Griffin was blunter than usual last week, as he defended his scaling back of the agency's science programme. Space scientists have responded angrily to the cutbacks (see Nature 439, 768-769; 2006), but Griffin insisted to two key advisory groups — the Space Studies Board and the science subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council — that the science programme is still healthy. He made it clear, however, that the White House's plan to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars takes priority over increased science funding. And although he is willing to rethink some specifics, he reminded scientists "to be respectful of the political and budgetary constraints we face".