Group Says NASA Budget Cuts Will Damage Science Programs

By WARREN E. LEARY
Published: June 8, 2005

WASHINGTON, June 7 - The proposed NASA budget cuts for Earth and space
science will decimate programs that are finally giving people an
understanding of the complex world on which they live, a scientific
group said Tuesday.

In releasing a position statement, the group, the American Geophysical
Union, said the United States' leadership in Earth and space science was
at risk because of financial demands on the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration that had caused the agency to cut science programs
to finance human spaceflight.

"There are indications that Earth and space sciences have become a lower
priority at NASA," said the statement from the group, which represents
more than 43,000 scientists who study the land, sea and air from space
to below the surface. "NASA's proposed 2006 budget reduces science
research by $1.2 billion over the next five years, a dramatic change."

The president of the group, Dr. John A. Orcutt of the Scripps Institute
of Oceanography in San Diego, told a news conference that NASA was being
asked to do too much with the money it was given.

Cutting back on Earth science, Dr. Orcutt said, endangers significant
progress that has been made in understanding the environment over the
last few decades and hampers innovative research.

"Missions being eliminated or subject to long delays include inexpensive
Explorer-class satellites for space science and Pathfinder missions for
Earth science, which are innovative next steps in what we need to
study," he said later. "When you look to the future, there's not much in
the pipeline to replace many of the satellites operating now when they
reach the end of their lives."

In testimony before Congress, NASA officials had acknowledged the drop
in science budgets, but said it was a temporary situation that would be
corrected.

Dr. Eric J. Barron of Pennsylvania State University, a member of the
committee that drafted the statement, said a pause was significant
because it left little to encourage young scientists and engineers to go
into Earth and space science and threatened to create a gap in future
knowledge.

"You need to have a lot of faith in it being 'temporary,' " Dr. Barron said.

Michael Luther of the NASA Science Mission Directorate said the agency
appreciated the concerns as well as the acknowledgement of successes in
Earth and space science.

"We have had, and will continue to plan, a robust scientific program
here within the agency," Mr. Luther said.

Copyright 2005, The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08nasa.html