NASA Planetary Science Bracing for Brunt of Sequester

摘要

As NASA begins to apportion the 5 percent budget cut mandated under sequestration, parts of the U.S. space agency are being asked to cough up more so that others can cough up less or be spared altogether, a senior NASA official told an advisory panel April 4. NASA's Planetary Science Division, which Congress favored with a $200 million increase in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933) that President Barack Oba-ma signed into law March 26, is expected to lose most if not all of that money as sequestration siphons some $900 million off the agency's enacted $17.5 billion top line. James Green, NASA's Planetary Science Division director, told members of the NASA Advisory Council's planetary science subcommittee not to expect a straight 5 percent across-the-board cut as the agency rolls its top line back to $16.6 billion, as required under sequestration.