[ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

[TimBKyger]

Today, Tuesday 26 August 2003, the CAIB Report is to be unveiled, and NASA will be ripped a new orifice (unlike the one ripped in the left wing of Columbia...).

But I don't want to talk about that right now.  I want to talk about Pluto.

Before leaving for its August vacation, the House passed an appropriations bill that kills NASA's Pluto flyby mission.

Launch for "New Horizons" is early 2006.  A 2006 launch means New Horizons can use a Jupiter gravity assist, saving *years*.  If New Horizons can't be launched in 2006, it takes years longer to get to Pluto.

Which is why *you* need to fax or write two specific Senators to keep the bucks for New Horizons in *their* appropriations bill.

Notice I'm not asking you to call these Senators, or to email them. That doesn't have as much political impact as a letter or a faxed letter does. Why? Trust me. I worked in Congress eight years, and as a lobbyist for the last six. It just does.

Below is a copy of the letter I sent. Copy it, or change it any way you want. You'll find the names, addresses, and fax numbers of Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO). Senator Bond is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies; NASA is an independent agency.  Senator Mikulksi is the "Ranking Member" on the Subcommittee - the senior Democrat.  She's past Chair of the Subcommittee and, more important, the New Horizons spacecraft is being built in her state.

FYI -- The New Horizons mission is the first mission of NASA's New Frontiers progam.  Confusion reigns…

Senator Barbara Mikulski
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Room SH-709
Hart Senate Office Building
U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510
FAX NUMBER: 202/224-8858

Senator Christopher Bond
Chairman
Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Room SR-274
Russell Senate Office Building
U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510
FAX NUMBER: 202/224-8149


PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE ALL OVER THE PLACE. ANYWHERE. IN FACT, I ENCOURAGE IT.


Tim Kyger
4513 Peacock
Alexandria VA 22304
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Senator Barbara Mikulski
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
Senate Committee on Appropriations
Room SH-709
Hart Senate Office Building
U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510

8 August 2003

Dear Senator Mikulski:

I am writing today to express my great concern over a funding shortfall in H.R. 2861, the House's FY '04 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriations bill. H.R. 2861, passed by the House 25 July, cuts NASA's New Frontiers program by $55 million. If this cut is sustained in the Senate's appropriations bill, or in the House/Senate conference on their two appropriations bills, it will mean the end of a planned flyby mission to Pluto. If the Pluto/Kuiper Belt misson named "New Horizons" cannot be launched in 2006, as currently planned, then it will not be able to use a Jupiter swingby to shorten its travel time to Pluto. Instead of a flightime to Pluto of about 8 years, it will instead take 16 or more years to arrive. The position of Jupiter in its orbit to be able to provide a gravity assist to the New Horizons spacecraft will end shortly after the early part of 2006. As a result, if New Horizons cannot be launched in early 2006, then it cannot realistically reach Pluto in any reasonable time.

Simply put, unless the New Horizons spacecraft (funded under the New Frontiers program) is fully funded in this year's budget, then a Pluto flyby mission cannot be done before Pluto's atmosphere freezes out as Pluto in its orbit receeds further from the Sun.

The New Horizons mission is a number one priority of the National Research Council's Solar System Exploration Decadal Survey Report, which represents a consensus of the entire United States planetary exploration community. It was fully funded (thanks to your help!) in the FY '03 appropriation, and the President proposed fully funding it in his FY '04 budget submission. The FY '04 monies for New Horizons are the "hump" funding for this program; the required FY '05 and FY '06 amounts are progammed to be far, far less than the $55 million requested for FY '04. Furthermore, this program is a texbook example of a successful NASA "faster, better, cheaper" program; its total cost (including more than a decade of mission operations and the cost of launch) is fully half that of what NASA had originally in the early '90s thought a Pluto flyby would cost.

The United States has been the world leader in space exploration. In my lifetime, we have looked for the very first time at every other major body in the Solar System --- except for Pluto. And each and every time, we have been incredibly surprised. There are, of course, many legitimate scientific reasons for a reconnissance of Pluto. But frankly, I would simply like to see what it looks like before I die.

Once again, I wish to strongly urge you (and your colleagues) to fully fund the President's budget request for NASA's New Frontiers program line, and to hold to this position in conference with the House.

Sincerely,


Tim Kyger