Challenges

NASA Cuts Threaten KSC Life Sciences
Courtesy of Florida Space Research Institute

NASA, university, and contractor work within the state-built Space Life Sciences (SLS) Lab at KSC is threatened by a $17.5 million cut to KSC's budget for life sciences research. The cut is proposed within a 2006 budget amendment submitted to Congress by NASA. NASA wants to cut such research at multiple centers to pay for planned lunar missions. Because the early lunar missions would not require long-duration life support technologies that are the focus of applied research within the SLS Lab, NASA believes that it can defer such R&D until later. $6 million from the proposed cuts may be restored to maintain basic capabilities within the SLS Lab, but not to support research.

Opponents argue that the cuts will dismantle an R&D program and highly specialized capabilities that are necessary for longer-duration lunar and Mars missions. They also argue that: a) the ongoing R&D program requires years to accomplish and is already aligned with NASAÕs schedule for these longer-duration missions; and b) it will be much more expensive and difficult to re-build this R&D program after the scientists involved have moved elsewhere and their years-in-the-making projects are halted in mid-stream.

Florida officials are scrambling to determine the impact of the proposed cuts, including long-term utilization and lease plans for the SLS Lab and the proposed adjacent International Space Research Park on KSC property. KSC is considering alternatives for moving non-Life Sciences programs into the SLS Lab, but the specialized nature of the lab makes it less than ideal for other types of work.