Guest: Marcia Smith. Topics: FY 13 proposed budget analysis for NASA and DOD plus how the congressional budget process works. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog,
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com . Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back to the program Marcia Smith to help us understand the proposed FY 13 NASA and DOD budgets plus the congressional budgetary process. I recommend following Marcia’s website and posts at SpacePolicyOnline.com for the latest information on the budget and a wide range of additional topics of interest. During our discussion, we delved into how the U.S. budget process works. Its complex. Marcia suggested looking up reports by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) so check these out:
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/34649.pdf ;
http://opencrs.com/document/98-721 . In our first segment, I started by asking Marcia to explain why we hear that the Senate has not passed a budget yet funds are allocated and programs are cancelled and supported as if there was a budget. What unfolded for a good part of our 90 minute discussion was an excellent discussion on how our budget process actually works, what is important, what is not important, and who does what and when. I urge you to listen to this discussion as you won’t find a better tutorial on understanding our federal budget than right here with Marcia Smith. In learning how things really work, we used the NASA budget as an example and to a lesser degree parts of the DOD budget. We talked about cuts and the idea that the NASA budget was flat which it is not as its down close to a billion dollars from last year when the correct analysis is applied. We talked about Mars missions, SLS, Orion, JWST, NASA overhead, commercial crew, ISS, planetary science, and more. We went through the role of OMB and the use of auditors. You may find some of this surprising or even shocking. Also in this segment we talked about the subcommittees and the other agencies in the same subcommittee with NASA. Lots of questions came from listeners, including one about applying money from cutting back on the wars to NASA. No such luck, listen to why that does not happen, i.e. Overseas Contingency Operations Account (OCO). We also asked about taking money from one subcommittee and using it in another. That does not work either.
In our second segment, we continued our budgetary process tutorial, focusing on NASA tweaking the appropriations and sending it back to Congress for their approval which they may or may not approve. Next, we talked about DOD cuts but they were cuts from the projections which led us to talking about using out year projections for budgetary planning purposes. We talked about classified and unclassified space projects within the DOD, plus the efforts to hold the agencies accountable with audits and IG reports. As you will hear, most agencies including NASA and DOD do not get a clean statement from the auditor, instead they end up with a Disclaimed Audit. As the program ended, I asked Marcia to share with us what she has found to be the most effective way of communicating our passion for space with the public and congress.
If you have comments or questions about this discussion, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. Marcia Smith can be reached through her website which is provided earlier in this summary.
Guest: Mark Whittington. Topics: Space Budgets, policy, & politics. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog,
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com . Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Mark Whittington back to the show for this 2.5 hour wide ranging discussion on space budgets, the economy, space policy and space politics, plus economic issues facing the nation and others around the world. We also talked about space perspectives of all those running for president including President Obama and the Republican party challengers. Mark talked about two article he wrote that were pertinent to our discussion. These articles are (1) “Moon Base Supporters Struggle to Justify the Project:”
www.examiner.com/space-news-in-houston/a-lunar-exploration-reading-list-for-mitt-romney. In our first segment of 45 minutes, we talked about Texas space politics & redistricting, the Johnson Space Center, & the proposed FY 13 budget. Mark suggested Congress would rewrite most of the budget but that the Senate would likely not pass a budget so we would end up on CR. I asked Mark how that would lead to programs being cancelled such as ExoMars if we are still on CR as those programs are embedded in the CR from year to year. Mark described the process through administrative acts by NASA, Congress, or the President re cancellation, and what the Appropriations Committee would have to do to avoid them. For the most part, more money would need to be found for NASA but that was not likely. Mark talked about what constitutes commercial saying that for something to be really commercial, it has to be able to fail. We compared today’s commercial space programs to gov. programs in terms of Mark’s criteria. Listeners asked about SLS & Orion, wondering if it & when SLS would be cancelled. The idea of a lunar base was discussed in light of the comments made a few weeks ago in the Florida debate by Newt. Mark also talked about what he thought might be the space policy of the other candidates though not that much is known other than for Newt, Mitt, and President Obama. Mark talked about cutting out other budgetary items to make room for a quality space program & he highlighted the high speed rail program.
In our long second segment, Marshall called with a question about the original Mercury astronauts still alive. We talked some about human factors, microgravity, and life support issues. Listeners asked about the Chinese space program & their military buildup. Here, I referenced the recent congressional testimony of Ronald Burgess, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The article I referenced is at
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42630 . Mark spoke at length about exploration, citing his favorite history story involving Prince Henry The Navigator of Portugal. Jim asked Mark that if he believed commercial space was the best path forward & that SLS was a bad idea, how would he go about getting more support for commercial space even at the expense of SLS. Mark offered some concrete ideas in response to Jim’s question. John from Billings sent in a few notes & then later called to talk about why there is such an argument about SRBs as compared to liquid rocket motors. Challenger was mentioned along with Constellation but mainly Mark said that people’s behavior tends to find ways to support their beliefs. Terry, another Texan like Mark, called to ask why Sen. Hutchinson so strongly opposes commercial space. Mark offered a pretty good answer. Risk taking, more on SLS, Dream Chaser & the CST 100 were discussed along with the new project, Stratolaunch. As our program drew to a close, I asked Mark to summarize space policy for 2012 which he did do but then more questions came in. Becky wanted Mark to connect the dots vis a vis our economy & how this might impact NASA & all space development. This led to quite a little economic discussion with Mark, myself, and Dr. Jurist who called in about that time. As usual, I went off on my rant about space as an investment, not an expense. Jack got in the last word asking for three key events impacting space for 2012 other than the election. Mark said the upcoming Space X flight, what Congress does with the budget, and the planned Chinese mission later this year. In his concluding remarks, Mark talked about the economic options facing the country & he left us with a few points to consider. He urged us to participate in Town Hall meetings and ask the candidates space questions.
If you have comments/questions please post them The Space Show blog. Marks blog, Curmudgeons Corner, is at
http://curmudgeons.blogspot.com .
Guest: James (Jim) Muncy. Topics: FAA Reauthorization Act, HSF regulation, the NASA FY 13 budget, SLC, Commercial Crew, & more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog,
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com . Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Jim Muncy back to the program for a comprehensive two plus hour discussion on a variety of important topics including the FAA Reauthorization Act, the FY 13 proposed budget, SLS, commercial crew, ISS utilization, and much more. We started out discussing the three year renewal of the 2004 Act that minimized HSF regulation to afford the industry the opportunity to get started, obtain real time safety information, and to do better and more accurate downstream safety regulation as it evolves. During this discussion, Jim had much to say about flight safety for the crew, participants, and third parties. Next, we jumped into Jim’s perspective on the FY 13 budget proposal for NASA. He said it did a fairly good job of balancing competing interests and pressures, including the continued support of congressional favorites such as SLS, Orion, and the JWST. Much of this first hour long segment was about the budget process, why NASA gets the amount of money it receives, why congress does not do more for NASA per the wishes of many in our community, and that the NASA budget likely does a good job of representing the public’s interest in these programs based on the feedback received from constituents by our elected representatives. Later in the segment, Jim focused in on the ORS, the STP program, and potential sequestration cuts due early next year, and fuel depots as an alternative to heavy lift.
In the second longer segment, Jerry called in and the conversation changed to selecting only one commercial crew provider when we really should have multiple vehicles. Boeing was talked about as a commercial company and the potential selected company. Jack sent us an email asking Jim for his opinion on the three 2012 tipping points for NewSpace. He also asked about cubesats and the NASA $2-million NanoSat dedicated launcher prize. Kim emailed us about the Mars program cuts and Jim had much to say about this and how the FY 13 budget was being allocated. Listeners asked about the Falcon Heavy, space vision, Newt’s space program, and even the UN space treaties. As the program was drawing to a close, Jim again talked about SLS and its killing the budget along with the JWST. When asked if other national space agencies were trying to open the frontier and develop commercial space, he said none were even trying. At the end, he said the success of the upcoming Space X flight to the ISS will be a game changer and this will show that commercial space development is the best path to be on for the future of the space industry.
Post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog per above. You can email Jim at james.muncy@polispace.com.
GuestSearch: Marcia Smith. Topics: U.S. Space Policy and budget issues. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog,
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com . Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. The Space Show/OGLF is now engaged in its annual fundraising drive. Please see & act upon our appeal at
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/space-show-2011-fundraising-campaign . We welcomed back Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com to discuss the recently passed Minibus FY 2012 NASA budget as well as some of the issues for space policy as a result of the failure of the Supercommittee. Here are some specific URLs from SpacePolicyOnline.com that you will find useful for this discussion as well as understanding what is going on: 1) Re the Minibus: www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2008:minibus-signed-into-law&catid=67:news&Itemid=27; 2) Re the Supercommittee: www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2016:the-day-after-whats-next-for-nasa-after-the-supercommittee-failure&catid=67:news&Itemid=27; 3) The NASA FY 2012 Budget: www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/images/stories/NASAs_FY2012_Budget_Request.pdf. We started our discussion with the statement that we are in “unchartered territory.” Ms. Smith described the Poison Pill which goes into effect from 2013-2021 regarding pending budget cuts which will be significant but are not clearly understood at this time. There might be a 7-8% across the board cuts. The cuts also impact discretionary spending, not just defense or some entitlement programs. Ms. Smith explained this to us so don’t miss the discussion. NASA’s FY 2012 budget was down about 4% from what the President sought. Commercial crew was cut by about one-half to $406 million. Marcia confirmed that thought is being given to funding only one commercial company due to the reduction in funding. We also discussed the current pricing for buying rides on the Soyuz to the ISS as compared to the current pricing quoted for the Space X Dragon. Other topics in this segment includes SLS, MPCV and crew transportation in general. We talked about funding for the SLS and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the FY 12 budget. Ms. Smith reported to us that NASA Administrator Bolden recently testified that the three top priorities for NASA were SLS/MPCV, ISS, and the JWST. Marcia was asked about the OMB and their role in the budget process, specifically concerning future Mars missions. In our second segment, we talked more about the Minibus bill and some of the specific funding project within the FY 12 budget. Dave called in with a most interesting perspective on the issues from within NASA, asking us to focus on more than just the budget lines. Don’t miss what Dave had to say. As we approached the end of the program, we talked about DOD and National Security Space Policy using NOAA and the DOD NPOESS satellite programs as an example of the challenges ahead. Please post your comments and questions on The Space Show blog URL above. You can email Ms. Smith through www.spacepolicyonline.com.
