AAS Informational Email 2006-08

Kevin B. Marvel, Deputy Executive Officer


NASA SMD Note to the Community

On April 4, 2006, NASA's Science Mission Directorate released a note to the community as an amendment to the ROSES-2006 announcement of opportunities. The note discusses possible adjustments to the FY06 operating plan and proposed FY07 budget through advice from NASA's reconstituted science advisory committee structure, which will be provided later this year.

The note is included here in its entirety and instructions on how to get to the document are included at the end of this email.

Note to the Community:
Funding for the Science Mission Directorate Research and Analysis
(R&A) Program, including Astrobiology

April 4, 2006

The proposed NASA budget (NASA's proposed FY06 operating plan and the President's proposed FY07 budget) identifies a reduced level of growth for the Science Mission Directorate, relative to the runout of the President's proposed FY06 budget. In order to plan an executable program within the total funding proposed for SMD, we have had to make decisions on the appropriate mix of flight programs, research and development, and other program components. The reduction in research funding is directly related to the slowing rate of growth of SMD programs. Because there will be fewer missions within SMD, a larger body of advanced research and development to prepare for future missions is not required.

Astrobiology research funding is reduced in the budget for several reasons. It should also be noted that astrobiology experienced a rapid growth in funding several years ago. Prior to this reduction, the Astrobiology research budget was comparable to the astrophysics research budget and was almost double the heliophysics research budget. This reduction brings it more into balance with the rest of the research program. In addition, the lower flight rate for astrobiology related missions (e.g. fewer Mars missions in the next 5 years, delay for a Europa orbiter mission, delay for a Terrestrial Planet Finder mission etc.), plus the recognition that human exploration missions to Mars are further in the future than previously assumed, have reduced some of the urgency for rapid progress in astrobiology research. Astrobiology remains one of the larger disciplines and an important area of research in support of NASA’s program.

Both Mike Griffin and Mary Cleave, in Congressional testimony, Town Meetings with the community and elsewhere have said that we will listen to the science community's advice regarding the program mix and R&A. We tried to get the mix right, but if we can do better, we can propose changes through updates to the operating plan.

In consultation with the science community, through the NASA Advisory Council (NAC), we are studying the R&A and program mix. This advice will help NASA set priorities for funding missions and research within a fixed bottom- line budget. Any advice that indicates that a smaller, or perhaps no, reduction in research funding is a high priority for NASA should also indicate which mission budgets are lower priority. Such advice should be within the context of priorities set in the appropriate NAS decadal surveys. This will be a prime topic of discussion with the NAC science subcommittees when they meet later this spring. In our communications with the science community, we have indicated the changes that must be made to support the proposed NASA budget. At the same time, it is not our intent to preclude any options prior to the receipt of findings and recommendations from our advisory committees. We expect to release a decision on R&A funding by early summer.

Instructions on getting the actual document:

Go to the NASA research opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ Select "Solicitations" then select "Open Solicitations" then select "NNH06ZDA001N ROSES-2006." Under "Other Documents," select "Note from NASA: Funding for the SMD R&A Program, including Astrobiology (April 4, 2006)."



Mailed to US members from aas.org 5 April 2006

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