On Monday February 2 2015 the US president releases his budget request for 2016.

[Aethon]

Fingers crossed for increased NASA funding. Here's how it all works. ( See, this is why we can't have nice things. )

[Reddragon]

Hopefully everyone agrees that NASA needs more funding for the Commercial Crew Program. I hope the Europa mission gets the green light too.

[Ikaneko]

I hate to be a pessimist but don't hold your breath.

Our economy's in tatters, nothing but cuts across the board probably. It's not like Obama has anything in it for him, he's out in 3 more years.

What's stupid is that our huge deficit could be eased by slashing military spending, but nooooo, Team America must be strong!

I feel sorry for NASA, they get a pittance while the military receive hundreds of billions. God bless America?

[LABHOUSE]

No, it is God fix America.

It should (read won't ever) be:

Just set aside 75% of it for saving to get out of debt, 5% for nasa (I know that is more than Apollo days, that's the point), the 75% comes out of military and president and other "important" people's paychecks, the spending stays the same, 75% of military is cut out and sent home, if WW 3 starts, give them all of the budget before the edit. And while they are at it, metricify the usa, and Mae the official time and date format DD/MM/YY on days other than pi day, and always use 24 hour time.

[Reddragon]

I hate to be a pessimist but don't hold your breath.

Our economy's in tatters, nothing but cuts across the board probably. It's not like Obama has anything in it for him, he's out in 3 more years.

What's stupid is that our huge deficit could be eased by slashing military spending, but nooooo, Team America must be strong!

I feel sorry for NASA, they get a pittance while the military receive hundreds of billions. God bless America?

You are somewhat right and I don't want to start a political debate but your economy is not that much in tatters any more. The defense budget has gone down and NASA actually got a raise in 2014.

[Red Iron Crown]

Please restrict this discussion to NASA's budget and what they can do with it, political discussion is against our Community Rules and often leads to heated and pointless debate. Consider this a friendly warning of the subjects to avoid if this thread is to remain open.

[Pipcard]

NASA's got to have their budget increased for any human activities beyond Earth orbit.

date format DD/MM/YY on days other than pi day

just a small note: the solution is to have YYYY/MM/DD.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Pipcard

[Aethon]

Ok, Here's NASAs' plan.

A lot of stuff to wade through here. I'll let the Planetary Society analyze it for me and get back to you then.

http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html#.VM_U8mjF-Yf

Audio briefing 4 pm EST.

http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html

The Presidents' budget proposal for 2016.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/budget.pdf

Edited February 2, 2015 by Aethon

[Robotengineer]

The projected cost for new frontiers looks high, is that Europa-Clipper? Sad to see Opportunity dropped.

[Kryten]

The projected cost for new frontiers looks high, is that Europa-Clipper? Sad to see Opportunity dropped.

Europe clipper would be flagship. They had a competition for EC proposals in the New Frontiers class, but none of them offered the kind of science return required by the decadal survey.

[Mr Shifty]

Europe clipper would be flagship. They had a competition for EC proposals in the New Frontiers class, but none of them offered the kind of science return required by the decadal survey.

Europa looks like a separately funded thing now, with a solar-powered, multiple-flyby (Jupiter orbiter) mission already slated to beginning planning this year. It doesn't appear to be a New Frontiers proposal, but it's not funded at the level of a flagship. New Frontiers seems to be headed toward program selection in 2017 and then another in 2022. Looks like current proposals under consideration include Venus In Situ Explorer, Saturn Probe, Trojan Tour and Rendezvous, the Comet Surface Sample Return, and Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return.

[epoca]

Sad to see Opportunity dropped.

I don't think neither LRO nor Opportunity will be dismissed. This is exactly what happened last year, but Congress urged to save them. Sure, Americans need to advocate a bit, but I'm pretty confident those two missions will keep going.

[GoSlash27]

I hate to be a pessimist but don't hold your breath.

Our economy's in tatters, nothing but cuts across the board probably. It's not like Obama has anything in it for him, he's out in 3 more years.

What's stupid is that our huge deficit could be eased by slashing military spending, but nooooo, Team America must be strong!

I feel sorry for NASA, they get a pittance while the military receive hundreds of billions. God bless America?

The one constant in human nature when it comes to government funding:

Everybody agrees that the budget is a calamity waiting to happen. Everybody agrees that it needs fixed. Everybody agrees that their own personal favorite programs should have more funding, while everything they dislike should get cuts.

And nobody can agree on which programs are which.

It doesn't work that way. For everyone who thinks NASA is worthy and the military needs slashed, there's someone else who thinks the opposite. Therefore no solution and the problem gets worse every year.

Eventually (sooner rather than later) the government will be broke and nothing will get funded.

Best,

-Slashy

[Tommygun]

Are all of Opportunity's science instruments still working?

[Kryten]

Are all of Opportunity's science instruments still working?

The APXS alpha source decayed to useless levels years ago. Think the rest are still functioning.

[Tommygun]

The APXS alpha source decayed to useless levels years ago. Think the rest are still functioning.

I just found this, it sounds like it is still partly working. Is it still able to use protons, and X-ray radiation?

http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html

On the evening of Sol 3912 (Jan. 25, 2015), an atmospheric argon measurement was collected with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. Targeted color imagery is being collected as the rover makes progress towards the "Spirit of St. Louis" crater and Marathon Valley.

Ether way the science equipment seems to be in good condition.

Considering all the time and money it took to get there, shutting it down now to save a little money seems wasteful.