Members of the American Astronomical Society advise NASA on
scientific priorities, participate in NASA missions, and assemble the
evidence from NASA’s outstanding scientific discoveries to build a
coherent picture for the origin and evolution of the Earth, the solar
system, our Galaxy, and for the Universe as a whole.

From the perspective of the AAS, the current NASA budget for science
is disappointing. Although it maintains the James Webb Space Telescope
and provides for a possible refurbishment mission to the Hubble Space
Telescope, the sudden and wide-ranging retrenchments in this budget
proposal would halt, defer, or postpone programs to explore the solar
system, to observe other solar systems as they form, to detect planets
around other stars, to measure gravitational waves from astronomical
events, to probe the edges of black holes, and to seek the nature of the
dark energy. Large, medium, and small programs have been abruptly cut or
cancelled. This change has taken place without the broad consultation
within the community that we expect when it is necessary to shape NASA’s
program in times of finite resources. This seems unwise, wasteful of
effort, and damaging to the nation’s ability to develop its capabilities
in science.

There is broad and growing understanding in the Congress, as
evidenced by the Protecting America’s Competitive Edge (PACE)
legislation, that America’s future depends on living by our wits in a
competitive world. NASA science has been a bright light, helping to
inspire an interest in science and engineering for generations of
students. More directly, it has been a great success in its own
terms– generating a profound new understanding of the Universe we
live in. It is a mistake to suddenly diminish this successful
program while it is producing so many good results for NASA and holds
such promise for future discovery. For AAS members, the proposed
cuts in NASA’s support for science more than offset the increases
that have been aimed at improving America’s competitiveness through
support for the same type of work by the NSF, DOE, and NIST. A
coherent effort to improve science and engineering in the US would
treat NASA’s science program as part of the solution.

The AAS and its members are prepared to work with Congress and with
NASA to help find the best path to the future. The AAS strongly
supports the PACE-acts, which call for significant increases for
physical science research, including a 10% increase for NASA basic
research in each of the next five years as well as new initiatives in
science education. We are prepared to offer our best advice and to
work diligently to make the most of NASA’s investment in science.