TOKYO — A bipartisan NASA bill would formally authorize several ongoing programs and direct the agency to provide reports on topics ranging from the use of the Space Launch System to servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
House Science Committee leadership released its NASA Reauthorization Act of 2024 on July 9, one day before the full committee formally marks up the bill and sends it to the full House.
The bill would formally authorize $25.225 billion in funding for NASA in fiscal year 2025, a number between the administration’s request of $25.384 billion and the $25.179 billion included in the bill approved by a House committee on July 9. A key purpose of the bill is to address a wide range of NASA programs and policies.
“It provides comprehensive support for significant advances in human space exploration, prioritizing our ambitious missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), chairman of the full committee, said in a statement. “The bill also addresses near-term priorities, including major operations of the International Space Station and the continued development of scientific research and innovative technologies.”
Lucas is introducing the bill along with committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), along with Space Subcommittee Chairman and Ranking Member Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) and Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.), likely to facilitate his passage. That contrasts with the commercial space policy bill, which passed the committee along party lines in November. This law has yet to be passed by the full House.
The NASA bill would formally authorize several NASA activities that the agency already does. These include the development of new spacesuits for the International Space Station and the Artemis mission, the ISS deorbit vehicle, the Commercial Low Earth Orbit destinations program to support work on commercial space stations, and the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
The bill also includes provisions requiring a wide range of reports from NASA or other agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office, about these and other programs. Some examples of these reports:
- Non-NASA SLS Demand Assessment;
- A study of the development of a human landing system and any “alternative approaches” should the current effort suffer cost and schedule problems;
- GAO’s review of NASA’s plans for an “uninterrupted capability for human spaceflight and operations” in low Earth orbit while transitioning from the ISS to commercial stations;
- A GAO report examining whether current cost limits for NASA science missions are appropriate and how NASA handles missions that exceed those limits;
- A report from NASA on studies it has conducted over the past five years to restore or maintain the Hubble Space Telescope; and
- A joint NASA-NOAA study on the commercial acquisition of space weather data.
In addition to the news, the law signals its support for the Chandra X-ray observatory amid astronomers’ concerns that NASA’s proposals to cut its budget could jeopardize its operation. Directs NASA to “take no action to curtail or otherwise preclude continued Chandra X-ray telescope science operations prior to completion and consideration of the next triennial mission extension review for the Astrophysics Division.” This is a link to an older overview of extended missions in astrophysics, the most recent of which was carried out by NASA in 2022.
The bill directs NASA to reevaluate GeoCarb, an Earth science mission the agency canceled in 2022 after cost overruns and difficulty finding a commercial geostationary satellite in orbit to host the instrument. Under the bill, NASA would review the completed GeoCarb instrument and look for potential launch opportunities as part of a broader strategy for monitoring greenhouse gases.