(Space Politics) Garver: “a lessening of tensions” in the NASA budget debate

By , Posted 09/02/10

Link: http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/09/02/garver-a-lessening-of-tensions-in-the...

In a luncheon speech Tuesday at the AIAA Space 2010 conference in Anaheim, California, NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver sounded an optimistic and even a bit of a conciliatory note about the ongoing debate in Congress about the future direction of the space agency. “All four bills, I believe, do acknowledge that there are things in our budget proposal that are important to do,” she said, mentioning the extension of the ISS and increased funding for Earth sciences as two examples of items supported in House and Senate versions of NASA authorization and appropriations legislation. However, she added, “we clearly still have priorities like fully funding the commercial crew element of the budget, like fully funding our technology portion of the budget.” Those elements, she said, were essential to a sustainable, affordable program.

One additional area of concern she mentioned that has not gotten as much publicity is funding the transition and closeout of the Constellation program. The budget proposal includes $2.5 billion over two years for that, but Garver noted that no funding for that is included in any of the current Congressional legislation. “Just because you don’t have that in the budget doesn’t mean we’re not going to have to spend that money,” she warned. “Those dollars will have to be embedded in some of the other programs if it is not singled out in a line item.”

On heavy-lift, she said that NASA was “working with Congress to get a broader, deeper understanding” on how to go forward on this. She suggested that the agency didn’t feel it should be restricted on the design of an HLV by language such as that in the report accompanying the Senate’s authorization bill, which mandates a specific shuttle-derived approach. “We don’t feel that the best way to make those technical decisions is at the level of political leadership” but instead where the technical expertise resides at NASA and in industry. Political leadership, she said, can instead drive the “figures of merit” for such a system, such as affordability.

She also said that the debate does not appear to be as fierce now as it was earlier this year. “There is a lessening of tensions in Washington,” she said, noting that “we really don’t feel that we are now questioning each other’s intentions.” While unsure about when a compromise might be reached, she said she was confident “there will be a program coming together”. One positive aspect of the debate, she noted, was the debate was about not about how much to spend on NASA: “I don’t believe I heard a speech about cutting the $19 billion” overall NASA budget proposal for FY2011.