THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION’S FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 2, 2011 Serial No. 112–3 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 65–048PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HON. RALPH M. HALL, Texas, Chair F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas Wisconsin JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California ZOE LOFGREN, California ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland DAVID WU, Oregon FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma BRAD MILLER, North Carolina JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois W. TODD AKIN, Missouri GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia BEN R. LUJA´ N, New Mexico SANDY ADAMS, Florida PAUL D. TONKO, New York BENJAMIN QUAYLE, Arizona JERRY MCNERNEY, California CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland Tennessee TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan MO BROOKS, Alabama ANDY HARRIS, Maryland RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana DAN BENISHEK, Michigan VACANCY SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS HON. STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi, Chair F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona Wisconsin MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois DANA ROHRABACHER, California TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma DAVID WU, Oregon W. TODD AKIN, Missouri DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida SANDY ADAMS, Florida E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia MO BROOKS, Alabama RALPH M. HALL, Texas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas (II) C O N T E N T S Date of Hearing Page Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Ralph M. Hall, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 10 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Minority Mem- ber, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Rep- resentatives ........................................................................................................... 12 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 Witness: The Honorable Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 16 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 18 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 30 Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions The Honorable Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ................................................................................... 66 Appendix II: Additional Material for the Record Submitted Statement by Representative Jerry Costello, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 96 Submitted Statement by Representative Randy Neugebauer, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 97 (III) THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION’S FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2011 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ralph M. Hall [Chairman of the Committee] presiding. (1) 2 3 HEARING CHARTER COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES A Review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Research and Development Program WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2011 10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. 2318 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING Purpose The purpose of the Committee hearing is to review the Administration’s FY 2012 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and examine its priorities and challenges. 4 Witness The Honorable Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Background Agency Overview NASA is the nation’s primary civilian space and aeronautics research and devel- opment agency, carrying out a diverse set of missions and projects designed to ex- pand our understanding of Earth, the Solar System, and the universe. NASA oper- ates the Space Shuttle fleet, the International Space Station, and a number of sat- ellites in orbit around Earth and throughout the solar system. It also undertakes activities in technology development and transfer, education, outreach, and partici- pates in a number of interagency initiatives such as nanotechnology, information technology, climate change research, and the Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (P.L. 85-568) and was formed by merging the National Advisory Committee on Aero- nautics (NACA) with selected space and aeronautics research projects from the de- fense department. In its first year, President Eisenhower requested $125 million for NASA. Today, the agency’s budget is more than $18.7 billion (less than half of one percent of the federal budget), with about 83 percent of the total budget paid to com- mercial entities on a contract basis. NASA employs about 18,300 full time equiva- lent civil servants and another 43,000 contractors. In addition to its headquarters office in Washington, DC, NASA has nine field centers: • Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA • Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, CA • Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH • Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD • Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX • Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, FL • Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA • Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL • Stennis Space Center, Bay St. Louis, MS The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena, CA, is a NASA-sponsored federally funded research and development center. NASA also owns the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia and the Michoud Assembly Facility east of New Orleans, Louisiana. FY2012 Budget Request NASA’s budget request for FY 2012 is $18.7 billion, the same amount appro- priated by Congress for FY 2010 and continued thus far in FY 2011. The budget request also displays the succeeding four out-year budget assumptions (FY2013 - FY2016) to give Congress an indication of near-term spending plans for programs, projects and activities. The FY 2012 budget request assumes the same topline spending level through FY2016, but unlike previous budgets, NASA’s FY2012 re- quest qualified their out-year assumptions as ‘notional.’ However, NASA’s ‘notional’ assumptions are significantly higher than those in OMB’s FY2012 agency request (OMB’s Blue Books) by an aggregate of $2.33 Billion. In spite of this significant dif- ference, NASA officials advised the Committee that they are using their higher out- year assumptions for planning purposes. NASA is proposing to modify its current account structure in two ways: (1) to divide ‘‘Aeronautics and Space Technology’’ into separate ac- counts; and (2) merge the ‘‘Space Operations’’ and ‘‘Exploration Systems’’ Directorates into one account. The latter may occur by this summer. Key Highlights and Programs from the FY2012 Budget Proposal Earth Science. NASA’s Earth Science programs seek approaches for providing sus- tained, simultaneous spaceborne climate measurements to advance knowledge of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, sea ice, land surfaces, and the interaction of these ele- ments in the ecosystem, including the impact of humans. Key elements include 5 flight programs to develop satellite observation missions; research analysis to under- stand the flight data; developing technologies for new measurement approaches; and advancing the use of Earth science measurements to inform environmental policy decisions. • Compared to last year’s budget, the FY2012 Earth Sciences request - $1,797.4 million - is $4.4 million less, a decrease of 0.2%. • NASA operates 13 satellite missions making global observations and has seven missions in formulation or under development, with Glory, Aquarius, and NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) scheduled for launch in 2011. • Delays start of the DESDynI and CLARREO missions. Astrophysics.