{"id":14596,"date":"2017-05-24T00:09:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T16:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/trumps-nasa-budget-request-reduces-earth-science-eliminates-education-office\/"},"modified":"2017-05-24T00:09:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T16:09:59","slug":"trumps-nasa-budget-request-reduces-earth-science-eliminates-education-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/trumps-nasa-budget-request-reduces-earth-science-eliminates-education-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s NASA budget request reduces Earth science, eliminates education office"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

\"\"
File photo of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s fiscal 2018 budget request includes $19.1 billion for NASA, a $561 million decrease over previously enacted levels that would reduce the number of Earth science missions, eliminate the agency\u2019s education office and do away with the Obama administration\u2019s plans to robotically retrieve a piece of an asteroid as a precursor to eventual flights to Mars.<\/p>\n

The budget closely reflects the administration\u2019s blueprint, released in March, and overall, NASA\u2019s acting administrator said America\u2019s space program remains healthy and suffered relatively modest cuts compared to other federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this budget tells us to do is keep going, keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing, very important for us to maintain that course and move forward as an agency with all the great things we\u2019re doing,\u201d Robert Lightfoot told agency employees in a televised address.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got $19.1 billion as an agency, and it really reflects the president and the administration\u2019s confidence in us moving forward. I think you guys can take a lot of confidence in that when you see what\u2019s happening and the overall pressure on the budget in the entire country. We did really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The budget continues robust support for the $8.6 billion James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that is scheduled for launch next year, two robotic Mars landers, a planned mission to study Jupiter\u2019s enigmatic moon Europa from orbit \u2014 a lander is excluded \u2014 and two probes designed to study asteroids.<\/p>\n

Relatively minor cuts were imposed on the agency\u2019s heavy lift Space Launch System rocket and Orion deep space crew capsule, the centerpieces of plans to move beyond low-Earth orbit, first with flights to the vicinity of the moon in the 2020s followed by eventual flights to Mars in the 2030s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a horizon goal for some time now of reaching Mars, and this budget sustains that work and also provides the resources to keep exploring our solar system and look beyond it,\u201d Lightfoot said in a statement. \u201cAnd, it enables us to keep innovating and creating the technologies that will take us to deep space and improve the aeronautics systems on which all of us rely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The International Space Station remains fully funded as do commercially-procured cargo missions launched by SpaceX and Orbital ATK. Funding for continued development of commercial crew ships being built by SpaceX and Boeing to ferry astronauts to and from the space station is reduced in the new budget request but that was expected given the companies are nearing flight readiness.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration favors such public-private partnerships and NASA management seems to concur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget supports and expands public-private partnerships as the foundation of future U.S. civilian space efforts,\u201d Lightfoot said in a preface to the budget document. \u201cSuch partnerships have enabled American industry to provide cargo resupply services for the International Space Station and the imminent return of the capability to launch astronauts from American soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget creates new opportunities for collaboration with industry in space station operations, deep space habitation, Earth observation and the development of new technologies. \u2026 Our missions help develop our evolving industrial base, which strengthens our economic and national security, and give our nation greater capabilities and flexibility to achieve challenging exploration goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Space science, which includes missions to study Earth, other planets in the solar system, astrophysics, solar physics and space weather, would receive $5.7 billion under the Trump administration\u2019s budget request, about $53 million less than in the enacted FY \u201917 budget.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has made no secret of its skepticism about global warming and its presumed causes and impacts and as expected, the budget eliminates funding for five Earth science missions and instruments. Earth science would receive $1.8 billion overall, reflecting a reduction of nearly $170 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard choices are still there, and we can\u2019t do everything,\u201d Lightfoot said. But the budget \u201cstill includes significant Earth science efforts, including 18 Earth observing missions in space as well as airborne missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planetary science would receive $1.9 billion under the president\u2019s budget, funding continued development of the InSight Mars lander, scheduled for launch in 2018, the Mars 2020 rover and continued design and development of the Europa Clipper, a multi-billion-dollar \u201cflagship\u201d mission that would fly in the mid 2020s. The Europa Clipper would receive $425 million in the new budget.<\/p>\n

Some $817 million is earmarked for astrophysics, including continued support for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope \u2014 WFIRST \u2014 while a separately budgeted $534 million will go to the James Webb Space Telescope. Solar physics would receive $678 million, supporting launch of two sun-study missions.<\/p>\n

Overall, the science budget supports continued development of about 30 missions and operational support for more than 60 active projects.<\/p>\n

Human exploration and ground systems is budgeted at $3.9 billion, covering ongoing development of the SLS mega rocket and the Orion crew capsule. Space operations, which includes costs to operate the International Space Station, runs $4.7 billion with another $679 million earmarked for advanced space technology development, including high-power solar-electric propulsion and high-speed laser communications systems.<\/p>\n

Aeronautics research \u2014 the A in NASA \u2014 would receive $640 million under the president\u2019s budget request.<\/p>\n

Funding for NASA\u2019s education office will be cut from $100 million to $37 million, enough to close down operations across the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this budget no longer supports the formal Office of Education, NASA will continue to inspire the next generation through its missions and the many ways that our work excites and encourages discovery by learners and educators,\u201d Lightfoot said. \u201cWe are as committed to inspiring the next generation as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION File photo of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA The Trump administration\u2019s fiscal 2018 budget request includes $19.1 billion for NASA, a $561 million decrease over previously enacted levels that would reduce the number of Earth science missions, eliminate the agency\u2019s education office and do away with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2539,159,1873,3305,1883,1801],"class_list":["post-14596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-earth-observation","tag-education","tag-fy18-budget","tag-nasa-budget","tag-white-house"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}