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Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 (2011)

Chapter: Appendix E: Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA's Planetary Science Division

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA's Planetary Science Division." National Research Council. 2011. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13117.
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Appendix E

Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA’s
Planetary Science Division

The fiscal year (FY) 2011 operating budget for NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) is about $1.46 billion. The president’s FY2011 budget request was part of a 5-year budget projection covering FY2011 through FY2015. In that projection the PSD’s FY2015 planning budget reaches about $1.65 billion (real-year dollars). The committee used that projection in formulating its recommendations. Beyond FY2015 the committee assumed that the PSD budget would include only growth equal to inflation for the remainder of the 2013-2022 period covered in this decadal study (currently set at 2.4 percent per annum).

As shown in Figure E.1, a number of ongoing flight, research, and operational programs have commitments with obligations that extend into the decade. These include the Discovery program (missions through Discovery-12 as well as missions of opportunity); New Frontiers (New Horizons, Juno, and New Frontiers-3); lunar programs (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer); Mars flight programs (largely Mars Science Laboratory, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, and NASA’s contributions to the European Space Agency [ESA]-NASA Mars Trace Gas Orbiter as well as extended missions for Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Odyssey, and Mars Express); outer planets (completion of Cassini’s Solstice mission and early selection of Europa Jupiter System Mission instruments); and program core functions that include plutonium-238 investments, advanced multi-mission operations development, PSD program management, and various infrastructure activities.

The planning wedge used in this report (shown in white in Figure E.1) grows from about $500 million in FY2013 to about $1,700 million by FY2022. It must be pointed out, however, that although the integrated real-year dollar amount under the wedge is approximately $12.2 billion for the decade, this must cover continued research and analysis (R&A), Discovery, and technology programs, as well as new starts for New Frontiers and flagship missions. If R&A and Discovery were to be maintained at current levels, they would require approximately $5 billion of the wedge—in that case the total budget for new-mission starts in New Frontiers and flagship missions within the planning wedge would be roughly $7 billion over the 2013-2022 decade.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA's Planetary Science Division." National Research Council. 2011. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13117.
×

image

FIGURE E.1 Projected budget for the NASA Planetary Science Division (PSD), in real-year dollars. Current commitments are shown as colors; the available wedge for planning the decade is shown as the white region under the upper black line that represents the total PSD budget (budget wedge data provided by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate). This region is the same as the area under the solid black curves in Figure 9.1 (top, bottom) of Chapter 9. The program of new missions described in Chapter 9 makes use of the funds depicted by the white region.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA's Planetary Science Division." National Research Council. 2011. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13117.
×
Page 369
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Decadal Planning Wedge for NASA's Planetary Science Division." National Research Council. 2011. Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13117.
×
Page 370
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In recent years, planetary science has seen a tremendous growth in new knowledge. Deposits of water ice exist at the Moon's poles. Discoveries on the surface of Mars point to an early warm wet climate, and perhaps conditions under which life could have emerged. Liquid methane rain falls on Saturn's moon Titan, creating rivers, lakes, and geologic landscapes with uncanny resemblances to Earth's.

Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 surveys the current state of knowledge of the solar system and recommends a suite of planetary science flagship missions for the decade 2013-2022 that could provide a steady stream of important new discoveries about the solar system. Research priorities defined in the report were selected through a rigorous review that included input from five expert panels. NASA's highest priority large mission should be the Mars Astrobiology Explorer Cacher (MAX-C), a mission to Mars that could help determine whether the planet ever supported life and could also help answer questions about its geologic and climatic history. Other projects should include a mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean, and the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission to investigate that planet's interior structure, atmosphere, and composition. For medium-size missions, Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 recommends that NASA select two new missions to be included in its New Frontiers program, which explores the solar system with frequent, mid-size spacecraft missions. If NASA cannot stay within budget for any of these proposed flagship projects, it should focus on smaller, less expensive missions first.

Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 suggests that the National Science Foundation expand its funding for existing laboratories and establish new facilities as needed. It also recommends that the program enlist the participation of international partners. This report is a vital resource for government agencies supporting space science, the planetary science community, and the public.

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