January 27th 2009
Posted by Max Bernstein at 2009/02/12 13:51:42.998 US/Eastern
NASA Reponse to Bloggers on Keck Observatory Future Funding
The FY09 budget plan, prepared under former Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Alan Stern, reflects only the current 5-year agreement in place for the Keck Observatory. That plan ends funding in 2012. NASA officials will consider continued funding for projects such as Keck when they meet in the coming months to discuss the next 5-year planning cycle. This is part of the normal annual federal budget deliberations. Given the success and work of the observatory, it is expected funding will continue. In fact, the science directorate, under the current leadership of Ed Weiler, finished renewing a five-year cooperative agreement to continue its support of Keck based on recommendations from the science community during last year's NAC-subcommittee meetings.
NASA highly values its investment in Keck as a strategic research tool that enhances the scientific return of NASA missions. The observatory provides unique capabilities for making important scientific observations that affect future mission planning. One example is finding methane in the Martian atmosphere that was recently announced.
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