The Planetary Society advocacy priorities in…

5 months into the fiscal yr into consideration, Congress lastly handed a funds for NASA on March 8, 2024. It supplied $24.9 billion, a decrease of two% (about half a billion {{dollars}}) relative to 2023. That’s NASA’s first year-over-year decrease since 2013, a direct outcomes of congressionally mandated spending caps handed within the summertime of 2023.

Consequently, funding for a lot of NASA functions remained flat relative to 2023. The notable exception was Artemis, which observed a slight funds enhance of $200 million to $7.7 billion. NASA’s return-to-the-Moon effort as soon as extra demonstrated the resilience of its political coalition by persevering with to develop no matter this yr’s budgetary stress.

Funding for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, then once more, shrank by $457 million.

This decrease was directed at a single mission the Planetary Science Division’s troubled Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. Initially requested at $949 million, Congress supplied “no a lot much less” than $300 million, nonetheless eradicated $522 million from the Planetary Science Division’s entire funds. If NASA wants to supply further funds to MSR in FY 2024, money should come from completely different duties. Whether or not or not it can occur is not sure given the opposed politics of such a name and this method’s current enchancment freeze all through its extended reformulation/replanning course of.

Regardless, it’s not an extreme quantity of to say that MSR took it on the chin in FY 2024 to guard the home firm’s completely different science initiatives.

No matter these difficulties, a whole lot of The Planetary Society’s prime advocacy and protection aims ended up completely or partially included throughout the closing congressional funds.