NASA Astrophysics Plus-ups Only Partially Paid for in House Bill

摘要

The U.S. House of Representatives on June 3 passed a spending bill that would boost NASA's astrophysics budget, but strings attached to the measure could actually force the division to make $21.3 million in unplanned cuts, a senior NASA official said. Under the 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 2578) just approved by the full House, NASA's Astrophysics Division would get some $735.6 million of the $18.5 billion appropriators saw fit to include for NASA. While that is nearly $9 million more than NASA's 2015 astrophysics budget and $26.5 million more than the division's proposed 2016 budget, the same bill calls for NASA to more than triple what it is planning to spend next year on continued formulation of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), the next big astrophysics mission after the nearly $9 billion James Webb Space Telescope. NASA requested $14 million for WFIRST for 2015 only to see Congress increase the program's budget to $50 million. House appropriators proposed the same change again this year, adding $35.8 million to NASA's identical $14 million request.