WASHINGTON – Congressional appropriators have unveiled the final fiscal year 2024 spending bill, which includes a reduction in NASA funding compared to the previous year and delays a decision on spending for the Mars Sample Return program.
The bill, released by House and Senate appropriators on March 3, covers 6 of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024, including the commerce, justice, and science (CJS) spending bill that allocates funds to NASA. It is anticipated that Congress will pass the bills before the current continuing resolution funding expires on March 8.
NASA is set to receive $24.875 billion in the final bill, which is a 2% decrease from the agency’s 2023 funding and 8.5% less than the $27.185 billion requested for 2024. The amount falls below the figures proposed in the House and Senate bills, which stood at $25.367 billion and $25 billion, respectively.
In terms of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, the final bill allows NASA flexibility on spending. Due to budget uncertainty, NASA had previously reduced spending on MSR under a continuing resolution in November. This prolonged uncertainty led to staff layoffs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February, which serves as the lead center for MSR.
The bill directs NASA to report on the future of MSR within 60 days following completion of the MSR Independent Review Board Response Team’s assessment. Moreover, NASA is instructed to allocate no less than $300 million, as proposed in the Senate bill, and up to the requested $949.3 million from the House bill for the MSR program.
Additionally, the bill includes $227 million for the On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) 1 mission, despite NASA’s announcement of the mission’s cancellation on March 1. Appropriators recommend a review in September 2024 in case NASA struggles to keep the mission within cost and budget constraints.
The final bill also maintains funding for the Space Launch System, Orion programs, and the Human Landing System program at their 2023 levels. It provides $805 million for NASA’s heliophysics division, directs NASA to develop a plan for launching the Geospace Dynamics Constellation mission, and emphasizes the importance of funding the VERITAS Venus mission to enable a launch by the end of the decade.
Moreover, significant funding is allocated to nuclear propulsion work within NASA’s space technology directorate, with $110 million for nuclear thermal propulsion and $50 million for nuclear electric propulsion. This includes funding to expedite the development of an operational nuclear thermal propulsion system in collaboration with commercial partners through the DRACO project.