2021 budget request supports 'era-defining exploration'
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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine discusses the fiscal year 2021 budget at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Behind him are two RS-25 engines. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
In the fiscal year 2021 budget request, NASA looks to gain its largest year-over-year increase in decades as the agency sets its sights on returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024 while working to commercialize low Earth orbit.
The Trump administration is requesting the U.S. space agency as a whole receive some $3 billion more than it did for fiscal year 2020 to total roughly $25.2 billion. Most of that increase would go into supporting the accelerated development of a human-rated Moon lander, which would need to be ready to support a lunar landing as early as 2024 for the planned Artemis 3 mission.
“The budget proposed represents a 12% increase and makes this one of the strongest budgets in NASA history,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement on the agency’s website. “The reinforced support from the President comes at a critical time as we lay the foundations for landing the first woman and the next man on the South Pole of the Moon by 2024. This budget keeps us firmly on that path.”
A trans-lunar budget
Should the request make its way through Congress as is, which is unlikely, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft would receive $2.3 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively, for continued development.
Moreover, the Lunar Gateway program — a small space station in a halo orbit around the Moon that would be a rendezvous place for the human landing system — is proposed to receive $739 million. That would primarily go to Maxar Technologies and Northrop Grumman for the development of the first two modules of the deep space outpost — the “power and propulsion element” and “habitation and logistics module,” respectively.
But probably the most important item that would be funded is a human landing system. The administration is requesting $3.4 billion, which would go into the development of two commercial landing systems. These would likely be launched in pieces atop commercial rockets and aggregated at the Lunar Gateway.
Under the current Artemis program Moon landing architecture, a crew of four would launch inside an Orion spacecraft atop a Block 1 SLS rocket, which would propel it on a trans-lunar trajectory.
Once near the Moon, Orion would match the trajectory of the Lunar Gateway, which is expected to be in a near rectilinear halo orbit.
Orion would then dock with Gateway and two the crew members would transfer to an already-aggregated human-rated lunar lander and travel to the surface of the Moon. This would first involve the lander lowering itself to a low lunar orbit before landing at the lunar south pole.
After the surface mission, the crew would take the ascent portion of the lander all the way back to the Gateway, re-board Orion, and then fly back to Earth.
Transitioning toward a commercial LEO
For the International Space Station program, 2021 would see $1.4 billion go into ISS operations and $1.8 billion toward the commercial crew and cargo programs. A further $759 million would go into Space and Flight support, which would include human spaceflight operations, launch services, propulsion testing, communications services, etc.
Perhaps the most interesting item being proposed for FY 2021 is the $150 million for commercial low Earth orbit development.
According to NASA, the agency is working to “foster a robust commercial ecosystem” in low Earth orbit. Ultimately, the goal is to transition the capabilities of the ISS into one or more orbital platforms. This is separate from the commercial crew and cargo programs.
One of the first companies that could take advantage of the agency’s push to commercialize aspects of low Earth orbit is Axiom Space, which earlier this year was selected by NASA to build and launch at least one habitable commercial module to the ISS later this decade.
Ultimately, NASA is working with commercial partners to develop policies and practices to “define commercial ISS usage.” This includes appropriate price points for activities about the outpost as well as understanding any “possible competition” between NASA or the ISS National Laboratory — which runs a majority of science activities about the outpost — and the private sector.
“As we prepare to celebrate 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station this year, we will continue to look for ways to partner with private enterprise and give more people access to the unique environment microgravity offers,” Bridenstine said. “Similarly, when we go to the Moon in the next four years, we are interested in taking the world with us. This includes those involved in our Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative and the international relationships we have forged over the decades.”
More budget increases expected
As part of the FY 2021 budget request, the agency has outlined a rough projection of anticipated costs though 2025. This shows the agency could request $27.2 billion in 2022, $28.6 billion in 2023 and $28.1 billion in 2024 before falling to $26.3 billion in 2025.
Unsurprisingly, most of the increases over the next five years would come from the Artemis program and other Moon-to-Mars-related spending. Even with more money being spent on low Earth orbit commercialization efforts, the overall ISS program would see a flat budget though the middle of the decade.
In total, NASA is expecting to spend roughly $35 billion more over the next four years over its existing, roughly-flat budget. Most of that would go into the accelerated development of a human landing system.
In fact, most of the agency’s budget, which includes science, aeronautics, mission safety and security services and construction (for things like new facilities, etc) remains roughly constant.
The biggest losers in the request are some of the same losers for FY 2020 — NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement and the WFIRST telescope.
However, the U.S. Congress reinstated them for the final 2020 budget that was passed and signed by the president late in 2019. Given it is the same Congress, it is likely these programs will have similar fate.
The legislative process
The request is the first step in a long process to finalize the agency’s budget. Both sides of Congress will likely produce competing spending bills that will have to be reconciled before being sent to the president for his signature.
Historically, Congress has typically given more than the Trump administration has requested for space activities, albeit with somewhat different priorities. For example, last year, during the amended budget request, the administration requested $1 billion for the initial development of a human-rated lunar lander for FY 2020. They actually received $600 million.
There are also several members of Congress that are hesitant to support an increase in NASA spending for the accelerated Artemis program to meet the 2024 deadline. For example Reps. Brian Babin, R-Texas, Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and Kendra Horn, D-Okla., as well as several others, believe a 2028 target would be more realistic and any Moon program should have direct connections to future Mars connections. This is what they are proposing in House Res. 5666, a NASA Authorization Act.
House Res. 5666, however, is currently in the early stages of the legislative process and still needs to make its way to a full committee before being brought to the full House for a vote. Additionally, it doesn’t appear to have a lot of support in the larger space community.
‘On the cusp of embarking on era-defining exploration’
Regardless of what actually happens, SLS and Orion development is nearly finished. Contracts for the initial modules of the Lunar Gateway have been awarded (or will be soon in the case of Northrop Grumman). The only major question is if NASA receives adequate funding to support the development of one or two human-rated lunar landers in time for 2024.
“We are preparing to achieve pivotal milestones this year [2020] in development of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the Gateway,” Bridenstine said. “These make up the backbone of our Artemis program and are fully supported by this budget. They constitute our ability to build a sustainable lunar presence and eventually send human missions to Mars.”
Artemis 1, which is expected to see an uncrewed Orion spacecraft sent on a month-long trip around the Moon, is slated to fly sometime in the first half of 2021.
Hardware for the Artemis 2 mission is well into production and is expected to be ready as early as late 2022.
The stars are aligning for NASA to actually send people into deep space for the first time in 50 years.
Even if a 2024 human Moon landing ends up not being feasible or practical, it would take something drastic to prevent any human journey into deep space from happening at least sometime in this decade.
“NASA is on the cusp of embarking on era-defining exploration,” Bridenstine said. “The civilization-changing technology we develop will deepen humanity’s scientific knowledge of the universe and how to take care of our ever changing world.”
