Remarks by Lori Garver for OSTP R & D Budget Rollout

Today I am proud to be here representing the men and women of

NASA, to discuss our R & D budget for fiscal year 2011.  Administrator

Bolden has already provided a broad outline of our overall budget, as

well as our bold, new space exploration initiative.  I am pleased to be

able to focus here on our R and D programs, many of them new, in our

budget.   

We are incredibly excited that the President’s budget provides $6B in

new funding to NASA over the next 5 years.  This investment is a

testament to our innovative workforce, our forward looking programs,

and our ability to connect our work with societal needs to drive

prosperity for people across the Nation.  With President Obama’s new

direction to NASA, we will be investing billions in the best peer‐

reviewed research, innovative new technologies, dramatic flight

demonstrations, and in building an inclusive new space industry, all of

which are designed to again position NASA a national leader in research

and development activities, and in meeting critical national needs.

NASA is a world leader in climate change research, and this budget

dramatically expands NASA’s climate research and observations

capability.  We will accelerate several of our most climate‐relevant

missions, consistent with the recommendations of the National

Academy of Sciences. We will initiate a re‐flight of the Orbiting Carbon

Observatory, to be launched in 2013, and invest in additional carbon

monitoring capabilities.  These new projects are specifically targeted to

provide greater scientific understanding of the most critical climate

unknowns.  With this knowledge, NASA and others will be able to

better assess the potential global impacts of climate change.
Our Space Science program will continue to operate dozens of missions

across the solar system, and support its current development programs

that include missions to understand the Sun, Moon, Mars and the

broader Universe.  Our next science launch is only 8 days away!  That’s

when the Solar Dynamics Observatory will become our unblinking eye

on the Sun – monitoring our star in unprecedented detail as it awakens

from solar minimum.  The Mars Science Laboratory rover “Curiosity” is

on track for a 2011 launch, and the next flagship astrophysics

observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope is making great strides

towards its launch in 2014.  We look forward to working with the

National Academy Decadal Surveys in Astrophysics and Planetary

Science over the next year, as they define scientific priorities for the

future of several of our space science programs.

We have also expanded R and D efforts in NASA’s Aeronautics Program,

emphasizing the Next Generation Air Transportation System and new

“green aviation” research.  These investments will enable safer and

cleaner air travel in the future.  

As we transition away from the Constellation Program, we are seeking

to enable completely new ways of doing business in space exploration.  

To do this, we will create a number of transformative technology

programs, focusing on inventing and demonstrating a myriad of new

space exploration capabilities.  We will seek new ideas from many

sources, seeding innovation across the country, and creating a space

exploration program for the 21st Century.  We will invest in game‐

changing technologies such as advanced engines for launch and in‐

space travel, super light‐weight structures, new types of space habitats,

new entry systems, space resource processing, and radiation protection

for people and space systems.  We will begin activities ranging from
fundamental space technology research to flagship technology

demonstrations in space and on other planets.  I am energized just

imagining all the possibilities, and I know I’m not the only one.  We are

focusing NASA where we can return the best science and cutting edge

technology to help drive the nation’s economic innovation engine.  

These activities will draw new innovators to NASA, revitalizing our

capabilities for the decades to come.  It is with these innovations that

we will venture out into the solar system and, eventually, beyond.

The International Space Station will play a key role in our R and D plans

as we move forward on our new path.  The ISS is an extraordinary

laboratory in space, and is currently vastly underutilized.  We intend to

change that.  Our new innovative R and D programs specifically include

provisions to enhance ISS utilization and to position the ISS as a true

“international laboratory”.  We will fly payloads for Earth Science,

significantly expand our Human Research Program, and use the ISS as a

technology testbed to pave the way for future exploration.

And as we invest in the most innovative research and technology, we

will also work to cultivate an expanded space exploration industry

through a commercial crew transportation program that seeks to spur

competition and innovation in American industry, ultimately resulting

in commercial human spaceflight services.  Once established, these

services will not only allow astronauts to travel to the International

Space Station, they will ultimately open space travel to many more

people across the globe.   

These are big changes for NASA, and we stand ready to go implement

them as we look towards a more compelling, sustainable future in

space.  Thank you.