The Trump administration has asked Congress to cut $90 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s weather satellite programs and another $50 million from NASA‘s science programs in fiscal year 2017 spending bills, Space News reported Tuesday.Jeff Foust writes the White House sent a 13-page document to congressional appropriators requesting $17.9 billion in budget reductions from FY 2016 spending levels.
The cuts would be distributed among NASA’s science programs, including missions that are cancelled in the FY 2018 budget blueprint, Foust reported.
Trump’s FY 2018 budget blueprint proposed to scrap four Earth science missions including the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem satellite; Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory pathfinder; Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 instruments; and the Earth imaging instruments on the Deep Space Climate Observatory.
The document also seeks to decrease funds for NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R and Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellites as well as the Earth Observing Nanosatellite-Microwave mission, according to the report.
Lawmakers must approve spending bills next month since the federal government is currently funded under a continuing resolution that will last until April 28.
