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Budget

NASA SMD Responds to Community Budget Priority Concerns

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
December 26, 2012
Filed under , ,

NASA Planetary Division Management Responds to Community Concerns, Planetary Exploration Newsletter
“Contrary to statements being made by some individuals in the science community, the recent announcement of the Mars 2020 rover has nothing to do with the current R&A selection rates nor has it impacted the current or projected amounts to be spent in the R&A program. The Mars 2020 rover will be designed to “conduct mobile surface-based science at a site selected for its ability to preserve evidence of life, and prepare for the future return of samples per the NRC Planetary Decadal Survey.”
Keith’s note: I find it to be a little odd that Jim Green would wait until Christmas Eve to send out his official NASA response – and only send it to one newsletter – not to the rest of the media via PAO. It is sort of hard to reach the space science community using this approach.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

8 responses to “NASA SMD Responds to Community Budget Priority Concerns”

  1. Helen Simpson says:
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    The response was sent to the PEN because the editor of the PEN has been, by far, one of the loudest voices in protesting this situation. There is no reason for the response to go out through regular media channels because, to my knowledge, the protest has never been publicized by the media (though it was listed by NASAWatch four days ago). In fact, the PEN reaches precisely the community that is impacted. So the response was well targeted.

    • Anonymous says:
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      It would have been nice to send something to those in the R&A community with proposals that have been in for almost a year and who have not heard one way or another about funding….

    • kcowing says:
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      NASA Watch re-published the PEN information – so it was publicized by both publications. This commentary by Green is an official NASA response on budget issues. The 9th floor and  PAO are supposed to be informed – especially when the FY 2013 budget is still under wraps.  Argue all you want but that’s how it works.

      • Helen Simpson says:
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        To be clear, the decisions made by the Planetary Science Division (for better or worse) are based on a 2012 budget that the agency was given by Congress last year. The 9th floor doesn’t need to be in the loop on explaining that budget to the planetary science community, because it’s the 9th floor that handed the planetary science budget down to the PSD in the first place. There is no budget “issue”. The budget is the budget. It’s done. Quite possibly Jim Green cleared this message with his superiors before releasing it. Certainly the PAO doesn’t need to be part of any such explanation to the science community (thank goodness). As to speculations about the FY2013 budget proposal, Jim Green didn’t make any reference to it, though the PEN editorial comment was no doubt broadly aimed at it.

        • kcowing says:
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          You are entitled to your opinions even if they are totally wrong.  By virtue of your comments you are clearly not involved in these processes and are just guessing what does or does not go on.

          • Helen Simpson says:
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            I should add that SMD division directors routinely give invited division updates at professional science meetings (e.g. AGU, LPSC). These updates explain strategy for responding to budget appropriations. I’m not aware that these updates are associated with press releases going out to regular media channels, routed through PAO. Do you know that they are? Though I know that media reps often attend these presentations. I would assume, however, that these presentations are approved at least by SMD.

            Let me correct my last response. I was referring, of course, to speculations about the FY14 budget proposal.

          • kcowing says:
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            You are “not aware” …..

  2. Bill_McKinnon says:
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    Helen is correct. Jim Green’s comments are all about Planetary Research and Analysis grants, and the PEN is a good way to get such messages out to the community. The timing is irrelevant in this case. The Mars 2020 mission announcement was only made a few weeks ago. Jim’s message was posted as soon as possible after it was written. Presentations at meetings big or small (e.g., at “NASA Night”) generally cover the entire program, and are vetted back in DC.