Finally: Some Good News for Planetary Science Budgets
Wow, an Increase of $170 million for Planetary Exploration, Planetary Society
“The House would provide NASA with $1.45 billion for Planetary Science, which is $170 million above the White House request and an increase of $105 million over last year. This gets us to within spitting distance of The Planetary Society’s recommended minimum of $1.5 billion per year for a healthy program, so we are quite pleased with this number!”
Rep. Adam Schiff – House Appropriations Bill Significantly Ups Planetary Science Funding
“I’m very pleased that the subcommittee has made such a strong investment in planetary science – one of the Crown Jewels of NASA’s portfolio. With this funding increase, we will be able to keep Mars 2020 on track and begin an exciting new mission to Europa, two of the science community’s highest priorities. We should also be able to continue the operation of craft that have exceeded their estimated lives but continue to produce valuable science.”
This is great news. The missions of the Planetary Science division, the series of NASA Great Space Observatories and telescopes such as IRAS, COBE, WISE and Kepler have totally transformed our understanding of our Solar System and of our place and time in the Universe; all in two generations, much in just one. The Science Mission Directorate including Planetary deserves not just status quo but also a modest raise as reward for the discoveries made in the name of the United States for all Humanity.
How about continuing to support the R&A community! Without that these pretty missions are just PR releases.