![]() The Roman Space Telescope, previously known as WFIRST, was a frequent target of cuts in budget requests issued by the Trump administration, although Congress reliably funded it regardless. Funds are also set aside to continue work on the planned Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's icy moon and the Dragonfly quadcopter mission to Saturn's moon Titan.Īlso mentioned by name is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the agency's next flagship observatory after the James Webb Space Telescope, which is due to launch later this year. The skinny budget does not provide numbers for individual projects, but it does specifically mention setting aside discretionary funds for NASA's Mars sample return mission as a follow up to the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars Feb. ![]() Science missions also got a nod in the new budget request document. Other climate-minded activities throughout the executive branch would develop clean energy technology, facilitate infrastructure adaptation to climate change, address the disproportionate vulnerability of marginalized groups to the effects of climate change, upgrade science infrastructure in Antarctica, and support developing countries in their own climate resilience work. Within NASA's section, the document proposes $2.3 billion for the agency's Earth science programs, which it specifies will "initiate the next generation of Earth-observing satellites to study pressing climate science questions." The Trump administration regularly proposed reducing the program's funding. ![]() Presidential visions for space exploration: From Ike to BidenĪ theme of Biden's presidency has been the primacy of addressing climate change, and that goal is evident throughout the skinny budget, which claims a $14 billion increase on the current budget for addressing the climate crisis. The International Space Station claims a separate entry in the document, for more than $3 billion in funding for 2022 to "support space station operations, cargo and crew transportation, and research that benefits the exploration of space and life on Earth." ![]() "This funding supports the development of capabilities for sustainable, long-duration human exploration beyond Earth, and eventually to Mars," the document reads. The skinny budget does not include any indication of when the Biden administration wants to see a crewed lunar surface expedition, but clearly stresses that human spaceflight beyond the International Space Station will be a continuing priority. Last year, the Trump administration requested $3 billion for the system and received only $850 million, so even if the total program increase goes to the landing system, the agency may still face challenges with that segment of the mission. The Biden administration has not yet announced whether it will slow the program's goals.Ī key concern was whether the agency would have enough funding to commission a commercially designed and built human landing system to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface. Under President Donald Trump's administration, the agency was working to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, widely acknowledged to be an ambitious timeline. Perhaps most notably, the new request proposes $6.9 billion for the Artemis program, NASA's plan to land humans on the moon, which the document notes is $325 million more than Congress allocated the program this year. The 55-page document outlining the skinny budget explains that the Biden administration proposes a total of $24.7 billion in funding for NASA, which would mark a $1.5 billion increase on what Congress allocated to the agency for the fiscal year that began in October 2020.
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