NASA Releases Detailed FY 2019 Budget Information Minus Some Details

#NASA released @NASA FY 2019 Budget Estimates document - but it has lots of empty pages that say "insert text" #stateofNASAhttps://t.co/EdHTV8Lujj pic.twitter.com/uFXQiM3O35

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NASA FY 2019 Budget Estimates, NASA

(Excerpts)

"... NASA will continue its existing operations and further expand partnerships on the ISS. Direct federal support for ISS will end in 2025, though industry could potentially continue to operate certain elements or capabilities. NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit."

"... The Moon is a stepping-stone, a training ground, and a venue to strengthen our commercial and international partnerships. As the nation turns its attention back toward our nearest celestial neighbor, we will renew our exploration of Earth's natural satellite.

"... NASA will establish a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway in cislunar space, to include a power and propulsion element by 2022, and habitation, airlock, and the required logistics capabilities soon after. NASA will use this infrastructure as part of a broader strategy to explore and utilize the Moon and its surface.

"... SMD will partner with industry to send robotic lunar missions to further explore and utilize the surface of the Moon. SMD will also continue to study and explore Mars. As it prepares for a potential sample return mission, it will explore technologies that will inform future crewed missions and launches."

"... To accomplish these exploration activities, demonstration landers will be needed, with the capability to deliver payloads in the ~500 kg range to the lunar surface to obtain information on a diverse set of surface locations to be identified for potential utilization. These landings will be in addition to extensive landing missions to be planned and conducted by the SMD led Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program."

"... NASA is pursuing a new campaign in Advanced Cislunar and Surface Capabilities (ACSC) that will once again establish U.S. preeminence to, around, and on the Moon."

"... Starting in FY 2019, NASA is prioritizing its investments to maximize alignment with the new Exploration Campaign objectives with an emphasis on: advanced environmental control and life support systems & ISRU; power and propulsion technology (including space fission reactors, nuclear thermal propulsion, and high powered Solar Electric Propulsion); advanced materials; communications, navigation and avionics technology (including laser communications, disruption tolerant networking and high performance spaceflight computing); entry, descent and landing (including lander technologies); and autonomous operations."

"... Consistent with the FY 2018 request, the budget assumes termination of four Earth Science missions -- Pre-Aerosol, Clouds, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE), Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-3, Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earthviewing instruments, and Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder -- and the Carbon Monitoring System. Following a detailed internal review, NASA has canceled the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI) due to cost overruns that cannot be accommodated within the current budget."

"... Given its significant cost and higher priorities within NASA, the budget proposes termination of the WFIRST mission. Remaining WFIRST funding is redirected towards other priorities of the astrophysics community, including competed astrophysics missions and research."

"... NASA's Earth Science Research program pioneers the use of both space-borne and aircraft measurements in all of these areas. NASA's Earth Science Research program is critical to the advancement of the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established by Presidential Initiative in 1989 and mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to develop and coordinate "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change." NASA's Earth Science Research program also makes extensive contributions to international science programs, such as the World Climate Research Program."

"... An efficient and effective transportation system is fundamental to the future of the U.S. economy. Aviation is a highly visible and forward-looking component of transportation. Aviation moves the world, and the U.S. is a global leader in aviation technology."

"... The FY 2019 Budget proposes the termination of NASA's traditional education portfolio of domestic assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) that are fully funded in the year of the award or annually funded with a performance period of three to five years."

"... No funding is requested for Space Grant, EPSCoR and MUREP. NASA proposes to use unobligated balances previously appropriated under this heading to support the termination of these activities, including but not limited to, ongoing administration, oversight, monitoring, and funding of grants previously awarded by the Office of Education. Moving forward, it is expected that a new focused functional office funded by Agency Management and Operations will oversee agency-wide coordination of STEM engagement efforts."

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