For their reading enjoyment, we wanted to give our readers a comparison of the funding differences between the amounts in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act and in the HR 1473, “Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act”. Here are the numbers:
2010 NASA Authorization
| NASA FY11 Budget | $19.0000B | ||
| Exploration | $3.8683B | ||
| MPCV | $1.1200B | ||
| SLS | $1.6310B | ||
| Expltn Tech Dev | $0.2500 | ||
| Human Rsrch | $0.1550 | ||
| Cmrcl Cargo | $0.3000 | ||
| Cmrcl Crew | $0.3120 | ||
| Robotic Precrsr | $0.1000 | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total expl | $3.8680B | ||
| Space Operations | $5.5085B | ||
| ISS | $2.7798 | ||
| Shuttle | $1.6097 | ||
| Space & Flt Srvc | $1.1190 | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total ops | $5.5085B | ||
| Science Activities | $5.0056B | ||
| Earth | $1.8018 | ||
| Planetary | $1.4857 | ||
| Astrophysics | $1.0763 | ||
| Heliophysics | $0.6419 | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total sci. | $5.0056B | ||
| Aeronautics | $0.9296B | ||
| Aero Rsrch | $0.5796 | ||
| Space Tech. | $0.3500 | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total aero. | $0.9296B | ||
| Education | $0.1458B | ||
| Expmtl Prgm | $0.0250 | ||
| Space Grant | $0.0456 | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total ed. | $0.0706B | ||
| Rmndr ed. | $0.0752B | ||
| Cross Agency Support | $3.1114B | ||
| Constr, Enviro. Cmplc & Rmdnt | $0.3943B | ||
| Insp. General | $0.0370B | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total appropriations | $18.5767B | ||
| Rmndr appropriations | $0.4233B |
House FY 2011 NASA Appropriations
| NASA FY11 Appropriation | $18.4850B | ||
| Exploration | $3.8083B | ||
| MPCV | $1.2000B | ||
| SLS | $1.8000B | ||
| Expltn Tech Dev | $? | ||
| Human Rsrch | $? | ||
| Cmrcl Cargo | $? | ||
| Cmrcl Crew | $? | ||
| Robotic Precrsr | $? | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total expl | $3.0000B | ||
| Remaining | $0.8080B | ||
| Space Operations | $5.5085B | ||
| Science Activities | $4.9453B | ||
| Aeronautics | $0.5350B | ||
| Education | $0.1458B | ||
| Cross Agency Support | $3.1114B | ||
| Constr, Enviro. Cmplc & Rmdnt | $0.3943B | ||
| ————– | |||
| Total appropriation | $18.054B | ||
| Rmndr appropriation | $0.4310B |
Missing are appropriations for Commercial Cargo, Commercial Crew Development, Robotic Precursor, Human Research, and Exploration Technology Development. Commercial cargo, commercial crew, human research, exploration technology development, and robot precursor programs, which were authorized at $1.117B now only have a pool of $808M in funding, or 72% of the original funding, from which to draw. Clearly, NASA’s leadership faces some tough choices in figuring out how to fund each of those programs.
In addition to the Exploration budget, Science and Aeronautics Research were both cut. That the Appropriators budgeted funds above that in the Authorization Act for the SLS and MPCV is surprising. One hopes that this signifies that Congress will not do to the SLS and MPCV what it did to Constellation–under-fund those two program.