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From the Executive Director

Open letter to NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin

March 10, 2006

Click to enlarge > Louis Friedman, Executive Director

It is been a rather heady and intense time at The Planetary Society. The political problems posed by the NASA budget -- with deep cuts in space science -- are curiously juxtaposed with the excitement about the finding of water evidence at Enceladus, the moon of Saturn, and the orbit insertion of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (The Japanese success at Hayabusa is also not lost on us, nor is the upcoming orbit insertion of Europe’s Venus Express).

This juxtaposition of a bright present with the prospects of a dim future led me to write the following open letter to NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin -- a friend of the Society, who has taken some very disappointing positions defending the Administration’s budget proposal for large science cuts in NASA.

-- Louis Friedman

10 March 2006

Open letter to NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin.

Dear Mike:

NASA is to be congratulated for the fantastic news from Enceladus. Water on a moon of Saturn! Remember the excitement of the discovery of a liquid water ocean on Europa? It changed our whole view of the possibility of habitable worlds in the universe. This discovery will enlarge upon that.

What was also remarkable yesterday was the fantastic public interest and excitement about this Enceladus discovery. It became a top national, and international, news story. It is a reminder of why we explore. The possibility of habitable worlds and of life on other worlds dominates the public interest in space and the rationale for space exploration.

Congratulations, too, on the successful insertion into orbit of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter today. We are fortunate to live in a country which can send its ships to Mars at every launch opportunity and make the kind of fascinating and important discoveries about this other world -- the only one we know of that someday may be habitable for humankind. The Planetary Society worked hard, with NASA, to harness public support for the series of Mars missions, which are intended to inexorably lead to human flights there.

The public interest in Europa and Enceladus and in the steady pace of Mars exploration is all in danger of being lost.

I know that you were disappointed about the deep space science budget cuts that were proposed to Congress as part of the Administration's budget proposal. Those cuts, as we have testified, severely degrade NASA’s space science program plans for future planetary exploration and space science research. Those plans included the exploration of Europa’s ocean, Mars missions after 2011, Mars sample return, a Terrestrial Planet Finder, a great deal of astrobiology research about the questions of life and habitability on other worlds, and more.

Somehow these things dropped to the bottom in the priority list of what NASA should be doing in the next 5 years. Success in space science is being rewarded with cancellations, and the public interest in these great exploration missions is being put aside. Experience shows that loss of public interest can result in a weaker NASA program -- not just in the areas cut, but overall.

We support the Vision for Space Exploration. But a Vision must be guided by science. And if we are to ask for public support for sending humans back to the Moon and on to Mars, we must provide the public with the excitement and discoveries they crave by exploring new worlds and searching to understand questions of extraterrestrial life. That is why it was put in the budget in the first place, and why it should not be removed.

We know Administration budget constraints require you to make tough decisions. Cutting science was not the right tough decision. We ask that you look at the public interest in space exploration and work with Congress to restore Europa exploration, Terrestrial Planet Finder, and other missions of exploration, and to restore the science research and analysis programs.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Louis Friedman
Executive Director
The Planetary Society