The proposed US budget
reconciliation bill, which many of us refer to as the Big Ugly Bill, is a huge
disaster for NASA and its space programs, including New Horizons, and anyone
who values our space program must do everything in our power to make sure it
does not pass.
Well known for its disastrous proposed cuts to Medicaid, , SNAP, social safety net programs, and environmental protection, this bill proposes huge cuts to NASA, including cancellation of the New Horizons mission, the Mars Sample Return mission, Juno, OSIRIS-Rex, MAVEN, various Earth science projects, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Lunar Gateway program, the Space Launch System, the Orion spacecraft after the Artemis 3 mission, and many others, for a total reduction of agency funding by 25%.
No reasons are given for the proposed termination of these programs, but presumably, the cuts would be done to fund yet another tax break for the wealthy and large corporations—the last thing this country needs.
Personally, I am a Democrat and a progressive, though I have tried to keep these views out of this blog and focus on Pluto’s planethood, planetary science, and our space program.
However, one does not need to be a Democrat or progressive to recognize how disastrous these cuts to NASA would be for our country and for science.
It is fair to say that the US space program has been a key player in American greatness since the 1960s. To this day, the US is the only country that has ever landed astronauts on the Moon, and it is the only country to have robotically explored all of the solar system’s planets, with the exception of newly-discovered remote dwarf planets such as Haumea, Makemake, Eris, Sedna, Orcus, etc.
In 2019, New Horizons conducted the most distant flyby of any solar system object when it visited KBO Arrokoth, located four billion miles (6.4 billion km) from Earth. Mission team members are still searching for a third, even more distant KBO flyby target.
Today, New Horizons is studying the solar wind, studying the Kuiper Belt far beyond Pluto, and even contributing to heliophysics, and the study of structures and processes in the Milky Way galaxy.
Every one of the NASA missions targeted for cancellation has contributed to our understanding of the origins and formation of the solar system, the study of astrophysics and cosmology, and the workings of Earth’s climate.
These missions have made the US a worldwide leader in science and have even led innovations in technology and robotics with far ranging implications, including new ways of assisting people with disabilities.
It is inconceivable that an administration whose stated goal is to make America “great” would propose to cancel so much of exactly that which makes us great.
Needless to say, cancellation of these missions will result in many scientists losing their jobs and thereby will increase our country’s unemployment rate. We are already experiencing a “brain drain” of scientists in other fields leaving the country due to other cuts being enacted to government programs in science, technology, and health.
I urge everyone, regardless of party affiliation, to contact your Senators and
Congress members and urge them to vote against this bill and against these
cuts. They amount to a giant step backwards, the exact opposite of the
direction toward which we should be moving. If anything, NASA’s budget should
be increased to the levels it was during the Apollo missions.
To contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives, you can visit the official websites of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate (.gov). You can find their contact information, including website links and online contact forms, by searching for your representatives based on your zip code or by browsing the directory of members.
This bill may be voted on within the next few days, so please call now to save these crucial missions and our space program!
