Briefing notes

摘要

WhentheTrumpadministration presented its budget for NASA covering the financial year starting 1 October this year (Fiscal Year 2018), readers may recall that it deleted funds for education, significantly downsized funding for environmental research and atmospheric science, and terminated several important missions designed to advance science in understating changes to our environment (Spaceflight Vol 59 No 5 pp165-167). The White House also cancelled the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) along with a proposed lander for the orbiter mission to Jupiter's Europa moon. However, as we consistently remind readers, the President's declarations of intent over projects and programmes usually presented in the UK media as a fait accompli are merely proposals which have to go before Congress - where they can be reduced, added to or torn up - before they are enacted or trashed. Congress has delivered its initial judgement on those declarations we covered a few months back, and made significant changes. On 27 July an appropriations bill was approved by a Senate committee which restores funding for education, Earth science missions and a clutch of satellites, the RESTORE-L satellite servicing initiative, and increased significantly funds for the SLS and for Orion. Similarly, a House bill endorses these programmes and raises the NASA budget from the White House's proposed $19.1 billion to almost $19.9 billion, while the House recommends a total $19.5 billion. But don't expect a resolution before the fiscal year starts on 1 October. NASA is expected to make do with the 2017 funding levels until the two sides in Congress are reconciled. Overall, however, this is very good news.