Issue 12-4, February 20, 2012
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1) UPDATE FROM THE CHAIR
2) STATEMENT FROM THE DPS OF THE AAS
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UPDATE FROM THE CHAIR
A Strategy for Restoring Planetary Science Cuts
Many of us were expecting grim news for planetary sciences from the President’s FY2013 budget proposal, and that is what we got. A 20% cut from FY2012 levels, cancellation of a number of key programs, delays in others, reductions in many areas.
But this is a proposal. The President proposes and Congress disposes. We have plenty of friends in Congress and the planetary program is popular. The key to getting this funding restored is to make our voice heard in Congress and to work closely with our friends.
It is not news that this is an election year. The most likely outcome of the President’s budget proposal is a series of Continuing Resolutions (CR) until well after the elections and perhaps for the entire fiscal year. A CR would put the planetary budget back at the FY2012 level of $1.5 billion, but in order to use that extra money the CR language needs to include legislative direction on spending. Our efforts need to be focused on influencing the language that gets included in the CR. This requires DPS, in coordination with the other scientific societies and the Planetary Society, to engage with Congress during the coming year as the appropriations bills move through the legislative calendar. What I propose:
· Today: Let Congress know that this budget endangers the future of planetary science and our ability to achieve the goals of the Decadal Survey. This e-news contains a statement and a suggested letter to send to your congressperson. A DPS press release is also issued today. I strongly urge ALL DPS MEMBERS to take the time to e-mail or FAX a letter to their representatives.
The link to find the contact information for your representatives : http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm
The link to the DPS Federal Relations Committee page for communicating with Congress:
public_policy/communicating-congress
· May-June: Senate and House Commerce, Science and Justice Subcommittees will mark up appropriations bills. I will again call on the DPS to e-mail or FAX letters to representatives, make press releases, and organize visits to the staff of the key committees. The DPS will provide suggested letter formats, talking points, and advice on contacting congressional staffers.
· June-July: The full appropriations committee ratifies their bills. This is likely to be delayed, but when it does come up, AGAIN we need to e-mail or FAX letters to representatives, make press releases, and organize visits to the staff.
· September-October: The CR is up for passage. Be prepared to contact Congress.
I realize that I’m asking a lot of the DPS membership. Repeated political activism of this sort does not come naturally to scientists, but advocacy of our science and its value to society is the only way that we will change the priorities and restore the planetary budget. Go write your Congressperson!
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Suggested letter to send to your congressperson
The Honorable __________________________
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator ___________________________
or
The Honorable __________________________
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative ______________________
I am writing you to express my concern about the President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget for NASA. This budget calls for deep cuts to the nation’s very successful and productive planetary science program. The Planetary Science Division in NASA falls in FY13 to $1.2 billion from a current $1.5 billion, a drop of 20%. These cuts will force NASA to cancel its plans for its most ambitious exploration missions, cancel collaborations with the European Space Agency, slash the Mars Exploration Program, cancel the Lunar Quest Program, delay the very successful Discovery and New Frontiers competitive programs, and force cuts in mission operations and data analysis for several current missions, reducing the science return on an investment already made by the taxpayers.
The planetary science program in NASA is one of America’s great success stories. It has catalyzed a golden age of planetary exploration under American leadership. This is a program that rewrites the textbooks and cements American leadership in space science. This is a program that trains young Americans in science and engineering and enables America to dominate space science. This is a program that thrills and engages the public with a stream of pictures and discoveries from incredible new worlds. This program provides excellent value to America.
The planetary science community has a consensus plan for future exploration in its Decadal Survey written under the auspices of the National Research Council of the National Academies, Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022. The Decadal Survey recommends a balanced program of exploration and scientific analysis, tempered by fiscal realism. I urge you to support continued investment in the technological and scientific future of America as laid out in the Decadal Survey. I strongly believe that exploration of the solar system resonates with the American people; it is something that NASA needs to be doing, and it is something the American people support even in tight budget times.
Thank you very much for consideration of my views
You name, address, and telephone number.
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DPS STATEMENT
The Golden Age of Planetary Exploration is in Grave Danger from Deep Cuts in the President’s Proposed Budget.
The planetary exploration program has delivered a golden age of robotic exploration of the Solar System that over the past decade that has included a long series of stunningly successful missions. Among many examples are the Mars rovers which have discovered that standing bodies of water once existed on Mars, indicating past habitable environments; the Cassini mission to Saturn which discovered water erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, imaged previously unseen structure in the rings, and is mapping methane lakes and seas on Saturn’s moon Titan; MESSENGER which is now orbiting and mapping Mercury, revealing how terrestrial planets evolve; Dawn, which is orbiting and mapping the asteroid Vesta, revealing the earliest history of planet formation; and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and GRAIL which are orbiting our Moon exploring deeply into its structure and origins. Other low-cost missions have returned samples of a comet and the solar wind. These missions have revolutionized our understanding of Earth, its origins, and its place within the solar system and the larger universe. The planetary science program complements and extends the discoveries and breakthroughs in earth science, astrophysics, and heliophysics.
The Planetary Science community recently finished its Decadal Survey under the auspices of the National Research Council of the National Academies. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 recommends to NASA a program of balanced exploration and scientific analysis, tempered by fiscal realism, which builds on the immense progress of the last decade to continue expanding our understanding of our solar system, and search for evidence of past or even current life elsewhere in our solar system. The current golden age of planetary exploration — the result of years of effort by scientists and engineers supported at relatively low cost by a fascinated public and bipartisan political support — is in grave danger from deep budget cuts just as the next wave of discoveries beckons.
The President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget for NASA focuses almost all the Agency’s financial cuts onto the planetary science program. The Planetary Science Division budget falls in FY13 to $1.2 billion from a current $1.5 billion, a drop of 20%. These cuts will force NASA to cancel its plans for its most ambitious exploration missions, cancel collaborations with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the 2016 Mars Trace Gas Orbiter and the 2018 ExoMars rover, slash the Mars Exploration Program, cancel the Lunar Quest Program, delay the very successful Discovery and New Frontiers competitive programs, and force cuts in mission operations and data analysis for several current missions, reducing the science return on an investment already made by the taxpayers.
Implementation of the balanced, consensus, budget-conservative plan outlined in the Decadal Survey will not be possible under the President’s proposal. Reductions of this magnitude focused narrowly on planetary science indicate that NASA is stepping away from one of its most popular and successful programs. This is a program that rewrites the textbooks and cements American leadership in space science. This is a program that trains young Americans in science and engineering and enables America to dominate space science. This is a program that thrills and engages the public with a stream of pictures and discoveries from incredible new worlds. This program provides excellent value to America.
The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society, the world’s largest professional association of planetary scientists, urges Congress to support and fund a vigorous planetary science program as recommended by the National Research Council. We strongly believe that the robotic exploration of the solar system resonates with the American people; it is something that NASA needs to be doing and doing exceptionally well, and it is something the American people will support even in tight budget times.
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