February 27, 2012 - IMM@BUCT

NASA
Exploration, technology development are set to grow
$ MILLIONS 2011 a 2012 b 2013 c 2012–13
CHANGE
Science $4,919 $5,074 $4,911 -3.2%
Space operations 5,321 4,196 4,013 -4.4
Exploration 3,928 3,721 3,933 5.7
Cross-agency support 3,130 3,003 2,848 -5.2
Space technology 0 548 699 27.6
Construction, environmental compliance &
restoration 433 486 619 27.4
Aeronautics 534 569 552 -3.0
Education 146 136 100 -26.5
Inspector general 36 38 37 -2.6
TOTAL $18,447 $17,771 $17,712 -0.3%
a Actual. b Enacted. c Proposed. SOURCE: Office of Management & Budget
would provide $628 million, up 21% from
2012, to get the James Webb Space Telescope
on schedule to launch in 2018.
For human space exploration, the budget
proposes $830 million to develop commercial
capability to transport crew to the
International Space Station. The amount
would be more than twice the $406 million
the program received in 2012. The budget
also would provide $2.9 billion for the continued
development of a deep-space crew
capsule and a heavy-lift rocket to launch
humans into space. That amount is down
about 7% from the 2012 level.
To balance the requested increases,
NASA proposes to streamline agency operations
and to cut funding of the Mars
robotic exploration program by nearly
40%, to a total budget of $361 million.
The request would also end plans for the
ExoMars mission, a joint effort with the
European Space Agency to explore the red
planet. —SUSAN MORRISSEY
INTERAGENCY
INITIATIVES: EDUCATION,
CLIMATE SCIENCE,
NANOTECH ALL GROW
The President’s emphasis on science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) education is reflected by the
$3 billion he seeks for it across 13 agencies,
a 2.5% increase. This budget request comes
on the heels of his call for an additional
1 million graduates with STEM degrees, up
by 33% from current graduation rates.
The Administration’s education efforts
focus on two areas: improving college-level
STEM education, primarily at the undergraduate
level, and improving K–12 teacher
effectiveness. And the funding proposals
follow those lines. In total dollars, the largest
boosts would be $111 million, or 21.5%, to
$628 million for the Department of Education
and $40 million, or 3.4%, to $1.2 billion
for the National Science Foundation.
The Administration also
asks for more coordination
between NSF and the
Department of Education.
For example, a new initiative
to improve mathematics education at the
K–12 and undergraduate levels will require
collaboration between the two agencies.
The $60 million initiative will be equally
funded by both agencies.
One focus of both the math initiative and
other STEM programs is identifying efforts
that have been proven to work on the small
scale. “There is a great opportunity there
to scale up those programs,” said Carl Wieman,
associate director for science at the
White House Office of Science & Technology
Policy (OSTP), at a budget briefing.
President Obama also proposes a 5.6%
THE BUDGET PROCESS:
PROPOSAL NOW GOES
TO CONGRESS
2.5%
Education
The fiscal 2013 budget now goes to the
House of Representatives and Senate
Appropriations Committees, where it
is divided into 13 appropriations bills.
Hearings will be held on each bill by
various committees, and legislation will
emerge that sets the levels of spending
for all federal departments and agencies.
The numbers approved by Congress
may be very different from those
originally proposed by the Administration,
but historically, R&D has not been
radically changed. The whole process is
supposed to be completed and the bills
signed by the President by Sept. 30, the
last day of fiscal 2012.
increase in the U.S. Global Change Research
Program (USGCRP), a multiagency
science effort on climate change. The program
was funded at $2.4 billion in 2012, and
the President seeks nearly $2.6 billion for
it in 2013.
The funding request for USGCRP represents
“an affirmation of support” for federal
climate-change research, says John P. Holdren,
OSTP Director.
The U.S. Geological Survey, which saw
a significant cut in its USGCRP funding
in 2012, would see a major
percentage increase under
the President’s plan, which
proposes $68 million in 2013
funding, up 15.3% from 2012
funding of $59 million.
In tems of dollars, the National Aeronautics
& Space Administration would see
the biggest jump in USGCRP funding, up
5.7%, or $79 million, to nearly $1.5 billion in
2013 from just less than $1.4 billion in 2012.
The funding in part would support development
of several research satellites.
The proposed 2013 budget also would
boost nanotechnology research. The National
Nanotechnology Initiative
(NNI), established in 2001 to coordinate
nanotech R&D among
25 federal agencies, would receive
$1.8 billion, an increase of
5.6%
USGRCP
4.1%
NNI
$70 million, or 4.1%, compared with 2012.
The Department of Energy and the Environmental
Protection Agency would each
contribute double-digit percent increases
to NNI in 2013. DOE would invest a total
of $443 million, an increase of $128 million,
or 40.6%, compared with 2012. And EPA
would invest $19 million, a jump of $2 million,
or 11.8%.
On the other hand, the NNI contributions
of Departments of Defense and Homeland
Security would each decrease by double-digit
percentages. DOD’s investment
would fall almost 20% to $289 million, while
DHS’s would drop 14.3% to $6 million.
Federal agencies that participate in
NNI plan to continue to invest in three
signature initiatives: solar collection and
conversion, sustainable nanomanufacturing,
and nanoelectronics. The agencies
also plan to follow the NNI environmental,
health, and safety research strategy released
in fall 2011 to protect public health
and the environment while fostering
nanotech product development and commercialization
( C&EN, Oct. 31, 2011, page
28). —BRITT ERICKSON, CHERYL HOGUE,
ANDREA WIDENER
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 47 FEBRUARY 27, 2012