JPL may get budget boost

The proposed 2011 budget for NASA, which includes a $6-billion boost for earth science and related projects, could bode well for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, despite massive spending and personnel cuts to manned space missions via facilities in Alabama, Texas and Florida.

The proposal would increase spending over the next five years for earth-science-related research and robotic precursor programs to the moon, Mars and beyond. It also suggests restoring NASA’s technology program, a division dedicated to finding new ways of exploring space, which had been cut by previous budget plans.

Given the nature of the research and work done at JPL, the facility would stand to gain greatly were the proposal to pass as-is, said Richard O’Toole, executive manager of NASA’s Legislative Affairs Office.

“That’s a tremendous amount of additional stability within the NASA program,” O’Toole said. “It’s a great help to everyone.”

As much as $1.8 billion, or roughly 10% of NASA funding, would go toward earth and climate science research. Part of that would include rebuilding NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which crashed last February during a launching failure.

The observatory would use satellite technology to track and measure carbon emissions.

The information would be used for upcoming greenhouse-gas treaties and international agreements, O’Toole said, as it would shed light on exactly which nations are contributing most to carbon emissions and where the gases are being stored.

Another $3 billion over the next five years would be invested in robotic precursor missions, cost-effective scouting explorations on the moon and nearby asteroids, as well as Mars and its moons.

Those robots, operated remotely in real time via live video, would be able to identify potential hazards to future human visitation and habitation efforts.

They would also look for natural resources and where processing factories could be built to provide materials for long-range space travel.

The proposal seems to reflect a changing attitude toward the goals of space science and exploration, JPL Director Charles Elachi said in a written statement earlier this month.