At a 2 February budget briefing, NASA chief financial officer David Radzanowski explained, “As we develop our FY ’15 operating plan and get that approved by Congress, those funding levels will be populated with our final plan for FY ’15.” The FY 2015 enacted numbers were not specified in the administration’s budget request documents for many accounts within SMD and other parts of NASA because the FY 2015 enacted amounts reflect only funding amounts specified in the FY 2015 consolidated appropriations act (Public Law 113-235), according to the agency. SMD includes the Earth science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics programs as well as the James Webb Space Telescope. Within the total FY 2016 request for NASA, the budget for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) would inch up to $5.289 billion from the $5.245 billion FY 2015 enacted level.

This small increase will have a big impact,” commented Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society. The budget request “is a clear vote of confidence” in the agency, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on 2 February, the day when the budget request was made.

Although the requested 2.9% increase to the agency’s top line is a smaller percentage increase than for many other federal science agencies, it would provide NASA with continuity for most of its programs as well as funding for some key initiatives, including a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The White House’s proposed NASA budget for fiscal year (FY) 2016 is $18.529 billion, an increase of about $519 million above the FY 2015 enacted level.

2023 nasa budget