The FY25 Senate Funding Bill for NASA and NSF

On July 25th, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced their spending bill for Commerce, Justice, Science, and related agencies for the fiscal year 2025 (FY25). This includes the funding levels and priorities for NASA and NSF, the key agencies for astronomy and space science. This comes just one month after the House released their own spending bill for those agencies, which you can read about in our previous blog post. Neither chamber has passed its version of this bill on the floor, having stopped after the committee markup stage. Below, we dive into some of the key details of the Senate spending bill and report. 

For NASA Planetary Science, the bill supports funding NEO-Surveyor at no less than $235.9 million, which is in line with the House funding level and the NASA request. The bill also supports the Dragonfly mission at $434.6 million. Both NEO-Surveyor and Dragonfly are expected to launch in 2028. The committee recommends that NASA maintain a steady cadence of selection and launch for the SIMPLEx, New Frontiers, and Discovery class missions but does not specify the cadence as the House bill did. The VIPER mission, which was recently slated for cancellation by NASA over budget constraints despite completing construction, did not receive any specific mention in the bill. Sen. Capito (R-WV) expressed her disappointment over the cancellation during the committee hearing on the bill but did not request any action until further discussions could be had. For the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Mission, the bill encourages NASA to select a mission architecture that can meet the base science goals from the Decadal Survey at a reasonable cost and timeline. The bill directs NASA to submit a report on their plan for MSR and recommends no less than the requested $200 million for the mission. The Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission, identified in the most recent Decadal as the highest priority flagship mission, will receive $10 million for initial formulation. 

For NASA Astrophysics, the bill recommends no less than $98.3 million for the Hubble Space Telescope and up to $72.1 million for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Both telescopes had been slated for significant cuts in the NASA budget request, with the cuts to Chandra possibly requiring a total closeout of the mission. The Senate bill would slightly increase Hubble's budget, but as it only sets a maximum level for Chandra; NASA may still make cuts to the the mission as it sees fit. The committee does recognize the incredible scientific achievements of both telescopes, but it also acknowledges that both are facing technical issues as they age and may compete against funding for newer missions such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). The top recommendation from the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, HWO is set to receive $50 million in FY25, up from $10 million in FY24. The bill also meets NASA's request of $300.5 million for Astrophysics Research.

For NASA Heliophysics, the committee rejects NASA's request for reduced funding and instead increases it to no less than $811.7 million. This includes $236.7 million for the Heliophysics Explorers, no less than $39.3 million for HelioSwarm, $252.3 million for Heliophysics Research, and $20 million for the Heliophysics Technology program. About $133.2 million is allocated towards the Solar Terrestrial Probes to support ongoing missions such as MMS, upcoming missions such as IMAP, and to support future mission opportunities. The committee then expresses their disappointment in NASA's decision to cancel the Decadal recommended Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission, and also remarks that they are still waiting on NASA to submit a plan to Congress on a plan to launch the mission by the end of the decade, as required in the FY24 appropriations omnibus that was passed in March. As part of the $122.7 million allocated for the Living with a Star program, the bill sets aside $15 million for GDC.

For the NSF Astronomy, the bill lays out several recommendations for how the NSF should conduct its budget planning regarding astronomy research and facilities. This includes $100 million for the development of the next-generation astronomy facilities as recommended by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, a significant increase from the $30 million allocated in FY24. The committee then strongly recommends the NSF develop the full US Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELT), which would include a thirty-meter class telescope in each hemisphere. As part of this recommendation, they encourage the NSF to advance the full program into the MREFC queue during FY25 so that the agency can request the required funds for construction in their FY26 budget request and additionally direct the NSF to submit a plan within 90 days of the passage of the bill on their plan to advance the telescopes. The bill also implies that the committee intends to fund the program with a 50% stake, stating "The USELT program will provide unprecedented opportunities for scientific discovery and represents the only major science program undertaken by the Federal Government with a 50 percent cost share by non-Federal partners, including major US allies." Further in the bill, the committee remarks on the state of NSF's investment in major research infrastructure, especially upcoming billion-dollar class facilities such as the US-ELT program and other Decadal recommended projects, and commissions a National Academies report on how the NSF can support research infrastructure at this level.

On NSF projects adjacent to astronomy, the bill funds LIGO at the requested level and directs the NSF to brief the committee on its plans to develop the next generation of facilities. The bill also notes the committee's concerns over NSF's delay of the Decadal recommended CMB-S4 and IceCube-Gen2 projects over infrastructure challenges in Antarctica and specifically expresses concern that the decision to delay the projects was made without adequate consultation of the community or relevant stakeholders. The bill requires the NSF to submit a comprehensive plan that details the timeline and funding requirements for the Antarctic infrastructure upgrades that will enable continued research in the region, including a reasonable design path for the Decadal recommended projects. 

The House is currently on recess until September 9th, leaving just three weeks for the two chambers to reconcile their differences and pass a final conferenced bill before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. Given the limited legislative days and the election cycle, the most likely path forward is a short-term continuing resolution that will keep the government funded at FY24 levels until after the November elections.