White House FY 2016 Budget Allots NASA $30M for Europa Flyby; Will That Total Increase?
ByNASA wants to go Jupiter's moon Europa to observe its subsurface oceans and the mission got a key backer recently: the White House.
According to Space.com, the White House's newly unveiled 2016 budget gave NASA $18.5 billion, $30 million of which is for a Europa mission. The moon could wind up being an important research target for the future exploration of potentially habitable planets.
NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski said in a teleconference "the current funding profile would assume a launch in the mid-2020," Space.com reported. Before the budget can kick in for the 2016 fiscal year's start in Oct., Congress must pass it, and that may mean the total allocation could fluctuate either up or down.
"I think the administration's moving in the right direction, but still has a long way to go," Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), told the Los Angeles Times.
NASA's La Cañada Flintridge, Calf. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) falls in Schiff's district. The White House's 2016 budget is directing about $76 million less toward NASA and Congress last year significantly bumped up funding for the space agency's future Europa flyby.
"It's a better budget in many respects than what the administration has proposed in the past, although it's still not at the level that the Congress approved even last year," Schiff said. "I think we're going to do better than that to keep that mission proceeding forward. That's one of the very exciting new missions for NASA and JPL."