PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE ALL OVER THE PLACE ANYWHERE.
IN FACT, I *ENCOURAGE* IT!
As most of you probably know, the House passed an appropriations bill before it left for its August recess that effectively kills the Pluto-Kuiper Belt flyby mission. The Senate Appropriations Committee has now approved a NASA funding bill that does fund the "New Horizons" mission. The full Senate will also approve this bill.
We all know that, in this instance, time is of the essence; that without a 2006 launch, a Jupiter gravity assist is missed.
Which is why *you* need to fax or write one specific Senator to keep the bucks for New Horizons in the final "conferenced" bill. Ask her to reject the House's cut.
Notice I'm not asking you to call this Senator, or to email her. That doesn't have as much political impact as a letter or a faxed letter does. Why? Trust me. I worked in Congress for 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 address and fax number of Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Senator Mikulski 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.
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
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
15 September 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. The Senate has seen fit not to make a similar cut, funding the New Frontiers program in full as requested by the President. If this cut is sustained in the House/Senate conference on these two appropriations bills, it will mean the end of a planned flyby mission to Pluto. If the Pluto/Kuiper Belt mission 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. 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 the FY '04 budget, then a Pluto flyby mission cannot be done before Pluto's atmosphere freezes out as Pluto in its orbit recedes 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 programmed to be far, far less than the $55 million requested for FY '04. Furthermore, this program is a textbook 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.
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
