[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2023
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TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2022
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in
room SD-192, Dirksen Senate office Building, Hon. Jeanne
Shaheen (Chair), presiding.
Present: Senators Shaheen, Van Hollen, Moran, Capito, and
Braun.
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AND THE NATIONAL SCIENCE
FOUNDATION
opening statement of hon. jeanne shaheen
Senator Shaheen. Just for the record, we will no longer
take people asking questions in virtual format, so people will
be here in person, and we will take people in order of arrival
for questions.
This is really a pivotal moment for the prosperity and
security of the United States and democracies around the world.
At the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which is also
meeting right now, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Mark Milley are
discussing resources needed to meet the military challenges
from Russia, China, and others around the world. But the
agencies that are represented here that each of you represent--
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) are also key to standing
up to the challenges facing our country. So it gives me great
pleasure this morning to welcome NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
and NSF director--I am going to call you Dr. Panch for ease of
statement. So thank you both for being here this morning. It is
really good to see you again, and I am delighted that our
Ranking Member has joined us.
Just to clarify, again, for the record, we have about four
hearings going on in the Senate this morning, so we are not
sure who will be able to attend, but Senator Moran and I, I
know, have lots of questions, so we will be able to cover so
many issues that are going to be important as we look at the
appropriations process.
The programs that each of you manage are on the frontlines
of bolstering the Nation's cybersecurity, training teachers,
technicians, explorers, and entrepreneurs, developing
industries of the future, and understanding the existential
threat of climate change. This subcommittee wants the next pair
of boots on the moon, the next Nobel Prize-winning discovery,
and the next paradigm-changing technology company to be made in
the USA, or, from my perspective, better yet, the Granite
State. I am sure Senator Moran feels that way about his home
State of Kansas.
We know in New Hampshire that manufacturers have what it
takes to cut it in space. We have local companies much like
Mikrolar, a contractor for NASA, who is a continued contributor
of technology and supplies to NASA programs, but we cannot take
our continued leadership for granted. Our global competitors,
including China--especially China--are investing heavily in
scientific and technological innovation, and if we want to see
sustain our scientific leadership, and the economic prosperity,
and national security that it affords, we have to continue to
keep peace.
When the U.S. Government was shut down in 2019 due to
partisan bickering--a disagreement in the Senate over the
budget--China was landing on the dark side of the moon. We are
not going to be able to compete if that is the choice that we
have. Now, I do not want to focus on the past, but we need to
learn from it so that we do not repeat it. Most critical, it is
a reminder of what is at stake in this global competition. That
is why I am pleased that the fiscal year 2022 omnibus provided
the largest increase to NSF in more than a decade and a $770
million increase for NASA. I am also pleased that Congress is
currently in the midst of a bipartisan conference on
significant legislation to advance the mission of both these
agencies, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which is the
name of the Senate version of the bill.
President Biden's fiscal year 2023 budget for NASA and NSF
build on this progress and keep the Nation moving in the right
direction. For NASA, the fiscal year 2023 request is nearly $26
billion, an increase of $1.9 billion, or 8 percent, above the
fiscal year 2022 enacted level. The President's request
includes $10.5 billion for NSF. This is an increase of $1.65
billion, or 19 percent, above the fiscal year 2022 enacted
level. There is a lot to like in these requests. I am sure that
each of you would have liked more, but I think this is an
increase that can be put to good use, and I know that both
Agencies plan to expand climate research.
NASA is asking for $2.4 billion in earth science research
and more than $500 million to lessen the impact of aviation on
the climate. NSF's budget includes a total of $1.55 billion for
climate and clean energy research as we work to enhance our
energy security and create energy efficiency and renewable
energy jobs. Most important, the request invests in people with
$150 million for STEM engagement at NASA and $1.4 billion for
NSF's renamed Directorate for STEM Education. And this is a
major priority for me because I have seen how critical it is to
our economy in New Hampshire and to the economy in the country.
I was just at a ribbon-cutting yesterday for BAE systems,
which makes critical parts for the F-35 and a lot of our
warfighting equipment, and they are hoping to hire several
hundred more jobs in New Hampshire. And when I asked them what
is your biggest challenge, it was workforce. It was finding
those STEM-educated workers who can come in and do the jobs,
the engineers, the scientists that they need. And so the work
that you are doing in that area, both NASA and NSF, is really
critical. This is, of course, a point of pride for New
Hampshire as well because of the home--we are the home of
Christa McAuliffe and Alan Shepard, who are both revered
Granite Staters and emblems of STEM education.
The same sentiment is shared by our academic institutions
that are highly respected around the country for their
aerospace research and innovation. And as we were discussing,
Senator Administrator Nelson, we are immensely proud of the
University of New Hampshire Space Center, which was recently
selected by NASA to research the earth-sun environment. As one
of the two winners of the Heliophysics Medium-Class Explore
Competition, the $250 million will improve our understanding of
the dynamics of the sun, its connection to the earth and the
universe.
NASA's budget request will land the next humans on the moon
and return soil samples from Mars, while NSF seeks to create
jobs and maintain U.S. leadership on critical technologies that
will define the next several decades, technologies like
artificial intelligence and quantum computing through the new
Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, and I
am really looking forward to hearing more about that in your
testimony. There are also a few challenging items in these
requests. In particular, I am concerned with the proposed cuts
to NASA heliophysics and an overall lack of resources to
address recent decadal surveys, and astrophysics, and planetary
science at both agencies.
So in conclusion, I believe that we must continue to look
toward the next frontiers of science and space, and I am
looking forward to the launch of Artemis 1 this summer. I
understand that Senator Moran is also looking forward to that.
I support NASA and NSF because these agencies inspire us with
curiosity-driven research and exploration, and I think
curiosity is one of the most important aspects of the human
condition. So we thank you--both of you for what you do to
answer questions that we want to know about.
So with that, let me recognize the vice chair and one of
the conferees of the United States Innovation and Competition
Act, Senator Moran.
opening statement of senator jerry moran
Senator Moran. Chairwoman, thank you very much. I
appreciate hearing your enthusiasm. You and I are involved in a
lot of hearings, in this subcommittee and others, and I would
hate to admit that none of--that any of them are ones that I am
not excited about being at. But if there is a level of
enthusiasm for a subject for a hearing, it is this one, and it
is nice to have the two of you here today together. And I
certainly welcome our former colleague, Administrator Nelson,
and Director Panchanathan to this hearing.
I want to start by thanking Panch for visiting Kansas with
me last year. It was a highlight and very valuable certainly to
me and I hope to you, but to the people, the students that we
spent and you spent time with, and I am very grateful for that.
And, Senator Nelson, you are, ``relentless'' may be an
overstatement, but not far--relentless in your willingness--
stated willingness to come to Kansas. And it seems to be my
schedule that is keeping that from happening, and I am going to
make it happen shortly, and I thank you for that. There is
great value in Americans seeing the two of you, hearing your--
what you are about, your mission, and generating the enthusiasm
in them. It is helpful to us as we appropriate money for our
constituents to believe that that money is being wisely spent
and a value to the country.
The proposed budget for NASA is $26 billion. That is an
increase of about 8 percent. NSF's proposed budget is $10.5
billion and represents an almost 19-percent increase. I am
pleased to be a conferee on USICA, and I hope that we have
success in reaching an agreement so that that legislation can
become law. NASA is one of the most well-known government
agencies. In the past year, we have witnessed the successful
launch of the James Webb Telescope, and I appreciate your
efforts, Administrator, to see that I and four of my colleagues
were present. We did not quite succeed. It all worked on the
20th of December, it worked on the 22nd of December, it may
have worked on the 24th of December, but when it was Christmas
morning, most of our families had other plans for us on that
day. But in addition to the James Webb Telescope, it was a year
of research and science on Mars from perseverance and
ingenuity, and we are eagerly awaiting the Artemis 1 launch
that signifies our first step toward returning American
astronauts and, in this case, a woman to the moon.
I have been the lead Republican on this committee since the
early days of the Artemis program and worked closely with the
previous administrator to identify challenges ahead on what was
needed to ensure the long-term success of Artemis missions.
Returning to the moon and sustaining a presence there is a
long-term goal for our Nation, and I am pleased that this
Administration is continuing that goal. NSF's scientific
research is no less impressive. In Kansas alone, you can go
from a lab studying plant genomics to studying Arctic and
Antarctic ice without leaving the State, and even without
leaving the campus.
We cannot rest upon our past successes, however. There is
significant competition across the globe to be the Nation that
unlocks the knowledge and discoveries that will drive economic
growth and success. This research is important to our national
security as well. We know that competition is a focus from
investments by other nations but also from incentivizing the
unlawful transfer of intellectual property. This is a
recognition of the power of knowledge. It is important we are
able to harness that power, knowledge, and inspiration as
generated by your agencies for the good of our country. NASA
and NSF have the opportunity to capitalize on their missions,
to encourage students, young people across the country, no
matter where they live, to pursue activities and careers in
STEM. We just had a former astronaut in Kansas at the Kansas
Cosmosphere, and we visited with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders,
hugely a value. They had no interest in me but were very
excited about the astronaut.
Our country needs a workforce in each and every State that
is ready to push the frontiers of knowledge and has the skills
to thrive in a tech-intensive economy. Great opportunities
within your Agencies to maintain our leadership across the
scientific spectrum on earth and in space if we are strategic
in our investments. We are at a time where there is severe
unrest in the world. Russia and China continue to make
significant gains in the space domain. It is vital that the
United States maintain our leadership in space and in research
and development, and I look forward to discussing the
importance of this and the details of your proposed budgets
being presented with us today. I thank you both for your
leadership.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much, Senator Moran.
Senator Nelson and then Dr. Panch, do you want to give us your
testimony?
Senator Nelson. Thank you, ma'am. Madam Chair, if I may
have my remarks submitted for the record, and I would like to
just talk to you, if I may.
First of all, I want to thank you all for the
appropriations for 2022, and that gave us what we needed. And a
little birdie told me that you all are seriously considering
getting the appropriations bills out for 2023 before October 1,
and if you do, that will be a minor miracle. All of you will
become Merlin the magician, and--but I do believe that that is
being seriously discussed among the leadership, and my
compliments to Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell that those
serious discussions, as well as the chairs and the Ranking of
Appropriations, are occurring, and I hope it does. It will
bring about certainty for all agencies of government if that,
in fact, happens, and breaks what has become a routine
procedure where we often wait half, at least, of a fiscal year
before getting the appropriations and going on a continuing
resolution of previous appropriations, which often do not have
any application to the present. So I commend you.
I want you to know, just to pick up on comments that both
of you made about STEM and about kids, I have been just blown
away by our interns. We have lots of interns, and we love our
interns. And 30 percent of our interns end up coming to work
for NASA, and we are going to expand our interns. They are
reflective of what the two of you just related about seeing
students in school, that when the subject of space comes up,
their little eyes light up. They get excited. They are
motivated. It is a subject matter of which it is a window into
the items that are absolutely critical for the future of the
country: science, technology, engineering, mathematics.
We saw a bit of this several generations ago in the Apollo
generation when that major thrust of a space achievement
occurred for two generations of students. We saw the effects of
a concentration on the STEM subject matter and how that rippled
through the schools, and the colleges, and the universities,
and produced a workforce that gave us some of the technology
that we are experiencing today. And that is what is going to
happen with the Artemis generation, and you all--the two of you
have just testified to that fact by virtue of what you have
seen, and it is extraordinary.
We are taking it very seriously. We send our astronauts to
a lot of schools. We send our scientists to a lot of schools.
We are giving grants specifically in areas that have been
overlooked in the past. This is part of our diversity outreach.
So, for example, we have sent a space grant to the University
of Wyoming. In the past, a lot of those rural universities did
not have a direct relation, but we do not want those students
in rural areas--and that is just one example--we do not want
them overlooked. They are part of the national culture that is
so excited about space, and technology, and so forth. So I
wanted to comment since the two of you both mentioned it.
You have given us the resources in which to proceed with
the Artemis Program. It was the Apollo generation. We are going
back to the moon. We are going to land the first woman and the
next man. It is going to be an exciting time. But this time we
are going back to learn, to stay, to develop new systems, new
technologies, new techniques on how to live a long time in that
hostile environment, because when we go to Mars, we are going
to have to learn that, and we are going to have to learn new
technologies, too.
I want to urge you as an Appropriations Committee, do not
short-sheet space technology, the R&D. We need that extra oomph
in our research and development, and let me give you one
example. For years, by the way, you, the Congress, has rescued
us on the question of nuclear energy in space. As a matter of
fact, not until this year were we able to get the Office of
Management And Budget to agree to put, albeit a minor amount,
it is a symbolic amount for nuclear research for space, nuclear
thermal and nuclear electric, not only producing electricity
where, for example, on the surface of the moon we are going to
need a lot of electricity because if we find water, then we
have rocket fuel. And we have got a mission going to land on
the South Pole next year. It is going to dig around down into
the moon's surface, and if there is water there, then we have
that opportunity.
So I want to commend you for how you have constantly
supported nuclear thermal, nuclear electric, but I want to ask
you to consider pouring on the juice because that nuclear
propulsion would give us a way to get to Mars quicker. And if
we can get to Mars quicker, then we do not have to stay there
for a long, long time until the planets realign so that we can
get back within a reasonable period of time.
And so I could keep talking on and on. Aviation, something
dear to Senator Moran, we are going to fly the first electric
airplane this year. We are going to fly the first low-sonic
boom, supersonic future transport that can fly over populated
areas with just a little rumble instead of that boom, boom that
goes with the existing sonic boom. There are so many things. I
am going to wait for your questions. Both of you mentioned
James Webb Space Telescope. My goodness, in 1 month we are
going to have the first pictures, and it is going to be from
light that has traveled at the speed of light, 186,000 miles
per second, traveled for 13-and-a-half billion years. It will
be the light in the infrared spectrum that is from the
formation of the very first galaxies. Just think of the
discoveries that we are going to have of this thing called the
universe that is too big for me to even conceive it. Think of
the questions we are going to answer of which we do not even
know what the questions are right now as a result of what we
are going to learn.
And so I am going to stop there, Madam Chair. I want to
hear from Dr. Panch, who is well-known, well-respected in his
scientific discovery, a partner for us, and I look forward to
hearing from you all as well.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Bill Nelson, Administrator, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
Chair Shaheen and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to have
this opportunity to discuss the President's $26,000,000,000 budget
request for NASA for Fiscal Year 2023. This budget will keep us at the
forefront of exploration and discovery through daring and challenging
missions like Artemis, which includes returning American astronauts to
the Moon as early as 2025. This budget will help our Nation--and the
world--address climate change. It provides opportunities in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and it
promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)
throughout the Agency and with our partners. It's an investment to
support good-paying jobs and the businesses and schools that partner
with NASA in all 50 States. Finally, this budget reaffirms the
Administration's confidence in the extraordinary NASA workforce that
has dared to do the impossible for more than six decades. This year, we
adopted the mission statement ``NASA explores the unknown in air and
space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world
through discovery.'' This is a budget that will allow us to fulfill
those goals and serve those ideals. While my five minutes doesn't allow
me time to describe NASA's more than 100 missions in development and
operation, I would like to highlight a few for you today.
Soon, the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket NASA has
ever built, topped by the Orion spacecraft, will lift off from historic
Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center for its maiden voyage
around the Moon. This mission--Artemis I--will take the Orion
spacecraft and science payloads around the Moon, as well as test out
systems in preparation for Artemis II--the first crewed launch,
scheduled for 2024. After these test flights and as early as 2025, NASA
will launch Artemis III, returning U.S. astronauts to the surface of
the Moon. The next generation of moonwalkers will more strongly reflect
the diversity of the Nation. During the Artemis campaign, NASA will
land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon--but the
Moon is a steppingstone to further exploration. With annual missions to
build out our lunar infrastructure, including the Gateway--a new
international space station in lunar orbit--NASA astronauts will learn
to live and work on and around the Moon in preparation for future
exploration of Mars. This budget invests approximately $7.5 billion in
Exploration, including key elements for a robust and sustained presence
at the Moon including an upgraded launch capability; sustained lunar
lander capability; lunar robotic missions; lunar science;
communications infrastructure; next-generation spacesuits; safe,
reliable, and continuous surface power systems; and surface mobility
systems. And, with projects to test technologies that would allow for
human exploration of Mars, we are advancing toward the Red Planet.
The budget includes approximately $4.3 billion for Space
Operations, continuing support for the International Space Station,
which the Administration has proposed extending through 2030, while
stimulating the growth of the low-Earth orbit economy by working with
industry to develop commercial space stations. These investments will
pave the way for continuity of sustained U. S. presence in orbit and
create scientific and economic opportunities.
This budget increases funding for NASA's Space Technology research
and development portfolio to $1.44 billion, to develop essential
technologies that enable NASA's future missions to the Moon, Mars and
beyond, while ensuring our technology investments also support the
space economy. Space Technology has more than 1,400 technology projects
and approximately 140 planned flight demonstrations. Soon, we will send
the CAPSTONE CubeSat to the Moon as a pathfinder for the Artemis
program. CAPSTONE will collect data and test navigation technologies in
the unique orbit planned for Gateway. Other notable Space Technology
investments that support exploration of the solar system include those
in fission surface power and nuclear propulsion. Through this budget,
NASA will continue working with academia, and form strategic commercial
collaborations using joint investments with industry to develop
important technology solutions that support new space economies in low-
Earth orbit and at the Moon. This work increases the Nation's space
capabilities, supports job creation, and enables NASA to focus on
missions farther into the solar system than ever before.
This request emphasizes NASA's role in addressing climate change,
as a leading provider of Earth systems science and data. With this
budget, the Agency will start to build a future Earth System
Observatory: an array of satellites, instruments, and missions that
will generate a 3D, holistic view of the entire planet. From bedrock to
atmosphere, the Earth is a system. As that system changes, NASA will
help measure and understand the nature of that change. This request
also reflects a renewed emphasis on providing actionable data and
information to a broad range of users. NASA is planning an Earth
Information Center that will make climate data and information more
accessible and usable for Federal, State, and local government leaders,
researchers, as well as the public. These efforts will be implemented
in coordination with other agencies and partners.
The recent, remarkable launch of the James Webb Space Telescope
demonstrated NASA's innovation alongside international partners and
inspired the world. Faced with 344 single points of failure, the NASA
team poured hard work and ingenuity into this project, and pulled it
off flawlessly. This summer, we will see its first scientific images,
revealing the stars and galaxies that formed more than 13 billion years
ago, just after the beginning of the universe--a period of cosmic
history never before observed. Again, we will bring the world together
through the unique science from an ambitious NASA mission.
Building on this success, this request is the largest request for
science funding in NASA history at nearly $8.0 billion. The President's
budget request enables NASA to explore solutions for bringing the
samples of Martian rock and soil collected by the Perseverance rover to
Earth through the Mars Sample Return mission. This budget supports over
100 science missions and 10,000 U.S. scientists through more than 4,000
research awards across astrophysics, heliophysics, Earth science,
planetary science, and biological and physical science.
The budget provides more than $971,000,000 to advance U.S.
leadership in the civil aviation manufacturing sector, with over half
of that amount targeted to reduce the climate impacts of the aviation
industry. This year, NASA will start test flights on our Low Boom
Flight Demonstrator, which will enable environmentally and socially
acceptable supersonic passenger flights, opening new markets for
American companies and workers, and the X-57 Maxwell, an all-electric
aircraft. This request also accelerates plans for a new experimental
``X'' plane focused on sustainability. Under the Sustainable Flight
National Partnership, NASA and U.S. companies will develop and fly a
highly efficient, next-generation airliner prototype as early as 2026.
NASA investments will result in safer skies, smoother passenger
experiences, and faster, more sustainable aircraft.
NASA continues to invest in engaging students, educators, and
educational institutions to attract diverse groups of students to
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This includes
funding that supports learning opportunities that spark interest and
provide connections to NASA's mission and work; creating unique
opportunities for a diverse set of students to contribute to NASA's
work; and building a diverse future STEM workforce. The Office of STEM
Engagement (OSTEM) leads NASA's STEM engagement function, providing
strategic guidance and direction in partnership with the mission
directorates. In fiscal year 2023, the budget request includes
$150,000,000 for OSTEM, supporting the National Space Grant College
Fellowship Project (Space Grant); Minority University Research and
Education Project (MUREP); Established Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research (PSCoR); and Next Generation STEM Project (Next Gen STEM).
NASA fully supports the Biden-Harris administration's vision to
affirmatively advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal
opportunity for all. The Agency launched its Equity Action Plan in
April 2022, a comprehensive effort to assess and examine the potential
barriers and challenges that exist for communities that are
historically underrepresented and underserved in the aerospace and STEM
fields. NASA is assessing its programs, procurement processes and grant
policies to identify systemic barriers that limit representation and
participation of a diverse community of students and professionals.
When we enable individuals to inclusively participate, we provide space
for all possible talent, skills, knowledge, perspectives, ideas,
thinking, problem-solving, and innovations. This empowers NASA to
achieve the greatest success in discovering and expanding knowledge for
the benefit of all humanity.
With each great step, NASA magnifies its presence as a unifying
symbol of possibility and inspiration. At every opportunity, NASA
endeavors to educate and inspire. With every breakthrough, we seek to
generate more than incredible data--we help to create the next
generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers who will be the
innovators of the future. The American story is about discovery,
innovation, and a relentless spirit to push forward--and upward. This
budget allows NASA to continue our journey to enable a new era filled
with boundless optimism and limitless possibilities for all humanity.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much. Dr. Panch?
STATEMENT OF HONORABLE SETHURAMAN PANCHANATHAN,
DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
NSF'S FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET TO CONGRESS
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you so much. It is truly a delight
to testify with you. As you said, NASA is a great partner. Good
morning, Chair Shaheen, Ranking Member Moran, and Members of
the Subcommittee. It is truly an honor to appear to you--appear
with you again today to discuss the President's fiscal year
2023 budget request and the many ways in which the National
Science Foundation is accelerating discovery and innovation, as
I say, at speed and scale for the benefit of all Americans. I
would like to start by thanking this Committee for your
continued support of NSF. Your leadership has been and will
continue to be central to keeping the United States the global
leader in science, engineering, and technology.
For more than 70 years, NSF has been a catalyst for
economic growth and job creation in the United States. You do
not have to look hard to see the profound impact of the Agency.
The Internet, 3D printing, smartphones, and the networks that
power them, and even the CRISPR technologies that were
foundational in the development of COVID tests and vaccines,
and disease-resistant crops, are just a few examples of how
NSF's investments have benefited every American.
However, we currently face challenges to our scientific
leadership. You both spoke about that. Other nations are
seeking to replicate our success, our unique innovation
ecosystem, and to control the future of critical technologies,
like AI and Quantum Information Science. Our economic and
national security depends on our ability to invest heavily in
the technologies of today while making the discoveries that are
the foundation for the technologies of tomorrow and the future.
We must see growth everywhere by building ecosystems of
innovation in every region of our country, and we must harness
our domestic talent across every demographic and geographic
background to unlock the true potential of our workforce.
NSF'S FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET TO CONGRESS
The $10.5 billion fiscal year 2023 budget request for NSF
makes historic investments in each of these areas. First, the
budget funds critical exploratory, curiosity-driven research
that, Chair, you talked about, which is an engine of economic
growth and the foundation for the industries of the future. The
request includes $9.8 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion
above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level, to support research
across the spectrum of science, engineering, technology, and
STEM education. With this additional funding, NSF will continue
to be the champion of fundamental research that is the bedrock
of our future.
Second, the budget invests nearly $1.4 billion--again, you
alluded to that, Madam Chair--in support of the scientists and
engineers of today and tomorrow. There is tremendous untapped
STEM talent across every demographic and socioeconomic group in
every geographic region of our country. Every person needs
access to quality STEM education opportunities, from K to 12,
to community colleges and universities, and we must inspire and
motivate the missing millions to participate in the Nation's
innovation enterprise.
NEW PROGRAM: GRANTED
The fiscal year 2023 request introduces a new program aimed
at advancing the geography of innovation and engaging the
missing millions. Since I spoke to you last, I am delighted to
announce this new program. This new program is called GRANTED,
an acronym for Growing Research Access for Nationally-
Transformative Equity and Diversity. This will focus on
breaking down barriers to competitiveness at underserved
institutions within the Nation's research enterprise. It will
complement NSF's longstanding, broadening participation
programs and build lasting institutional capacity.
DIRECTORATE FOR TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, AND PARTNERSHIPS
Finally, the budget makes substantial investments in use-
inspired, solutions-oriented research. This has been a critical
part of NSF's mission and now must be scaled to meet this
moment of intense global competition. With the support of the
Administration and Congress, NSF has launched, and I talked
about this last year, and I am delighted to say again that we
have launched the first new directorate in more than 30 years.
This new Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and
Partnerships, or TIP, sits at the crossroads of exploratory,
curiosity-driven research, use-inspired solutions-oriented
research, and translational research across all scientific and
engineering disciplines. Significant resources are needed to
ensure that TIP will have the transformative impacts it is
designed to achieve. That is why the fiscal year 2023 budget
request includes $880 million for this new directorate. TIP
will leverage decades of NSF's investments in areas like
Artificial Intelligence, expedite technology development and
translation in emerging industries, and cultivate new education
and entrepreneurial pathways.
REGIONAL INNOVATION ENGINES
I am also proud to announce that today, we will be
releasing the first new major funding opportunity through the
TIP Directorate. The Regional Innovation Engines Program offers
a unique opportunity to spur economic growth in regions that
have not participated in the technology boom of the past few
decades. It will include partners from industry, academia,
government, nonprofit, civil society, and communities of
practice. These partnerships will stimulate the creation of
technology-driven products and solutions to serve the
corresponding regions and the Nation's needs. In doing so, the
NSF Engines, as we call them, will stimulate economic growth,
develop talent, and build centers of innovation across the
country. The fiscal year 2023 budget request additionally
invests in the critical world-leading infrastructure, including
testbeds, living laboratories, and prototyping platforms
necessary to enable fundamental research.
RESEARCH SECURITY
NSF also takes very seriously the need to safeguard
taxpayer-funded research. NSF is playing a leading role in
developing processes, training, and policies to ensure research
security and integrity. We are committed to strong partnerships
across the Federal Government with academia and with our like-
minded international partners to uphold the values of openness,
transparency, reciprocity, and research integrity that have
made the global research environment so successful.
I am amazed every day by the ingenuity and the dedication
of the NSF workforce and the incredible innovations NSF makes
possible. During the pandemic, we saw no decrease in
productivity. In fact, it was quite the opposite, and thanks to
the support of the Administration and Congress through the
CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan, we have been able to
support those in the research community most impacted by the
pandemic.
Again, I would like to thank each of you for your support
of NSF. The fiscal year 2023 request positions the Agency to
ensure U.S. leadership in science, engineering, and technology
for decades to come, and I look forward to working with you to
achieve that goal. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member
Moran.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Director Panchanathan
introduction
Chair Shaheen, Ranking Member Moran, and Members of the
Subcommittee, it is a privilege to appear before you today to discuss
how the National Science Foundation is building on decades of
successful investments and breakthroughs in science, engineering, and
technology to ensure that the United States remains the global leader
in innovation into the future.
Established by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 (Public
Law 81-507), NSF is an independent Federal agency charged with the
mission ``to promote the progress of science; to advance the National
health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the National defense; and
for other purposes.'' NSF is unique in carrying out its mission by
supporting research across all fields of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics, and at all levels of STEM education. NSF
investments contribute significantly to the economic and national
security interests of the Nation, and development of a future-focused
science and engineering workforce that draws on the talents of all
Americans resulting in the creation of new businesses, new jobs, and
more exports.
Over the past 72 years, NSF has funded research and researchers,
innovations and innovators, and world-class infrastructure that has
garnered incredible benefits to the Nation. The Internet, 3D printing,
and CRISPR technologies that enable everything from the development of
COVID-19 vaccines to climate- and disease-resistant crops are all
examples of the outcomes and benefits of NSF investments. Many of the
technologies and industries that are the drivers of national
competitiveness today--artificial intelligence, quantum information
science, advanced manufacturing, and advanced wireless and
biotechnology, to name a few-are rooted in NSF support, over the course
of multiple decades in many cases, for research at the frontiers of
science and engineering.
securing the future
Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the
global leader in science, engineering, and technology due to the vision
of leaders like Vannevar Bush and sustained investment by the Federal
Government. The decision to make long-term investments in basic
research was not just a decision to make science and engineering a
priority alongside the economy, national defense, and national health--
what we have learned is that these investments are an engine that
strengthens each of these national priorities.
Today, we are facing challenges to that leadership as other nations
seek to replicate our success, especially to control the future of
technologies. According to the 2022 Science and Engineering Indicators
report, ``The State of U.S. Science and Engineering,'' published by the
National Science Board and prepared by NSF's National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics, while the United States remains the
world leader in global research and development, the rate of growth of
research and development and science and technology capabilities by
other countries, including China, has outpaced that of the United
States in recent years. The 2022 report also shows that while industry
performs the substantial majority of U.S. R&D, the Federal Government
continues to be the largest investor in basic research. However, the
proportion of U.S. R&D funded by the Federal Government, across all
research types, has declined since 2010.\1\
As we look to the future, it is critical that we foster the
Nation's capacity to produce breakthroughs, to innovate, and to
cultivate the diverse domestic talent necessary to power our country
forward. Our economic and national security depend on our ability to
invest heavily in the technologies of today while making the
discoveries that are the foundation for the technologies of tomorrow;
to seed innovation everywhere by building ecosystems of innovation in
every region of the country; and to develop our domestic talent across
every geographic and demographic background. The President's fiscal
year 2023 Budget Request of $10.5 billion for NSF makes historic
investments in each of these areas.
strengthening established nsf
By seeding strategic investments, NSF explores the frontiers of
discovery and innovation, and makes possible breakthroughs and advances
that place the United States at the forefront of global leadership in
science and technology. With the continued support of Congress, NSF has
been able to sustain support for high-risk, high-reward research that
produces incredible benefit for the American people. For example, more
than four decades of NSF investment preceded the detection of
gravitational waves from merging black holes billions of light years
from Earth. This discovery was groundbreaking, with the lead
researchers winning a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. To achieve this
feat, they had to develop and refine new equipment and technologies to
achieve their goals--and the development of these ultra-sensitive
sensors and precision detection techniques they are pursuing today
could very well prove to have incredible impacts on our everyday lives
in the form of transformative future technologies, like quantum sensor
technology.
Curiosity-driven research has proven to be an engine of economic
growth. Since its inception, NSF has been a foundation for the
industries of the future. Each year, thousands of researchers expand
the base of human knowledge and, in doing so, unlock new possibilities.
They have built autonomous vehicles; revolutionized our wireless
networks; developed life-saving medical technologies; transformed
manufacturing; and brought digital tools to agriculture,
transportation, and education. Curiosity-driven, exploratory research
is a critical component to the Nation's current and future success.
This will continue to be our central focus: to accelerate discovery and
to enhance state-of-the-art research capabilities.
To that end, the President's fiscal year 2023 Budget Request
includes $9.8 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion above the fiscal
year 2022 enacted level, to support research across the spectrum of
science, engineering, and technology, including biological sciences;
computer and information sciences; engineering; geosciences; math and
physical sciences; social, behavioral, and economic sciences; and STEM
education. With this additional funding, NSF will continue to be the
champion of the fundamental research that is strengthening our science
and engineering enterprise at speed and scale.
Within the request are key priority areas where NSF plays a leading
role in addressing issues of national importance. For example, the
request includes funding to accelerate climate research, increasing our
understanding of the impacts of climate change and developing
corresponding solutions. NSF has been investing in fundamental research
at the heart of global climate issues for several decades. Long-term,
continuous, and consistent observational records are a cornerstone of
global climate science and resilience research. NSF supports a variety
of research observation networks that complement, and are dependent on,
the climate monitoring systems maintained by our Federal partners. The
results of NSF investments have helped us understand climatic
phenomena, and helped communities design mitigation strategies,
strengthen adaptation capabilities, and build more resilient futures.
Focal areas of the fiscal year 2023 Request include Clean Energy
Technology (CET) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
The fiscal year 2023 request invests $500,000,000 in CET spanning high-
risk, high-reward ideas from researchers across the science and
engineering spectrum. These investments are needed to create broad new
understanding and innovations that may increase energy efficiency,
enhance sustainability, mitigate climate change, or lead to other
societal benefits. NSF's portfolio spans longstanding programs as well
as focused new opportunities and will continue to advance the
fundamental science and engineering underlying clean energy
technologies and infrastructure that decrease energy prices and build
our domestic supply chain. NSF also will support multidisciplinary
research in areas such as affordable green housing and sustainable
systems for clean water, clean transit, and other infrastructure.
In fiscal year 2023, $913,400,000 is requested for NSF to continue
to support research that contributes to the USGCRP goal to accelerate
action on two fronts: (1) advance scientific knowledge of the
integrated natural and human components of the Earth system, focusing
on changes that pose the biggest risks and opportunities to society,
and (2) provide the scientific basis to inform and enable timely
decisions on adaptation and mitigation. NSF will continue to engage
with other USGCRP agencies on priorities from intra-seasonal to
centennial predictability, predictions, and projections; water cycle
research; impacts of climate change on the Nation's critical
ecosystems, including coastal, freshwater, agricultural and forests
systems; understanding the impacts of global change on the Arctic
region and effects on global climate; and fundamental research on
actionable science.
In addition, NSF will seek greater integration of social-science
research, methodologies, and insights into understanding and supporting
responses to global change, improving computing capacity, and
maintaining needed observational capabilities over time.
For example, in fiscal year 2023, NSF will develop the National
Discovery Cloud (NDC) for Climate, a new resource that will federate
advanced computing, data, software and networking resources,
democratizing access to a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem that is
increasingly necessary to further climate-related science and
engineering.
investing in innovation and emerging industries
Equally important to our Nation's competitiveness and success is
use-inspired, solutions-oriented research, which has been a critical
part of NSF's mission throughout its history. Intense global
competition and a rapidly changing technological landscape requires the
United States to take a different approach to research and development
investment that brings science and technology innovations to market
much more rapidly. Doing so requires unleashing the untapped economies
of innovation across the Nation and more tightly integrating curiosity-
driven research and use- inspired outcomes. NSF fosters an environment
ripe for innovation focused on economic and societal progress. Many of
today's foremost national and societal challenges such as healthcare
and education demand deeply multidisciplinary, multi-sector, solution-
oriented research to achieve much-needed science and technology
innovations. We must enable collaborations spanning diverse
institutions, sectors, and geographies to co-create new technologies
and solutions to address these challenges and accelerate prosperity.
With the support of the Administration and Congress, NSF has
launched its first new directorate in more than thirty years. The new
Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) sits at
the crossroads of exploratory, curiosity-driven research, use-inspired,
solutions-oriented research, and translational research across all
disciplines and investment models. Significant resources are needed to
ensure that TIP will have the transformative impacts it is designed to
achieve. That is why, in fiscal year 2023, $880,000,000 is requested
for TIP to work with programs across NSF and with other Federal and
non-Federal entities to expedite technology development in emerging
industries. This investment is crucial to addressing societal and
economic challenges, while maintaining the United States' technological
leadership. TIP will leverage decades of NSF investments in areas like
artificial intelligence and quantum information science coupled with
accelerating the translation of research results from the lab to the
market and society. TIP will also cultivate new education pathways,
leading to a diverse and skilled technical future workforce comprising
researchers, practitioners, technicians, and entrepreneurs.
Partnerships within the agency, with other agencies, industry, non-
profit organizations, and like- minded international partners are also
crucial to our success. TIP will leverage NSF's unique relationships
with the academic community and grow the agency's collaboration with
industry to spur innovation throughout the Nation. The NSF Regional
Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) will engage local communities,
academia, government partners, industry, philanthropy, and others to
identify issues of local, regional, and national importance, and to
drive innovation in critical and emerging technologies to address these
issues. The NSF Engines will be geographically distributed to ensure
that we are unlocking the innovation that we know exists everywhere.
The fiscal year 2023 Budget Request proposes increased funding in
six emerging industries where continued investment in both exploratory,
curiosity-driven research and use-inspired, solutions-oriented research
is needed to sustain U.S. leadership, support economic development, and
secure our National security.
(1) Advanced manufacturing is essential to almost every sector of
the U.S. economy, spurring it forward by increasing productivity,
enabling new products, and opening new industries. The fiscal year 2023
Request includes $421,000,000 for research to develop innovative
technologies to create products and processes with higher performance,
higher efficiency, and greater capabilities. NSF programs accelerate
advances in manufacturing materials, technologies, and systems;
workforce development; and translational activities that speed advances
from the lab to the market.
(2) Advanced wireless networks and systems provide the
communications backbone that connects users, devices, applications, and
services that will continue to enrich America's economy. NSF has a
proven track record of investing in fundamental research that advances
wireless technologies. For example, today's fifth-generation (``5G'')
wireless networks and systems were enabled by two decades of ground-
breaking NSF-funded research on millimeter-wave capabilities, advanced
antenna systems, and novel algorithms and information processing
protocols. NSF partners with other Federal agencies and industry on
such research. Looking forward to fiscal year 2023 and beyond, NSF-
supported research will make possible innovations in areas critical to
future generations of wireless networks and systems, such as new
wireless devices, circuits, protocols, and systems; security and
resilience; mobile edge computing; distributed machine learning, and
inferences across mobile devices; and fine-grained, real-time dynamic
spectrum allocation and sharing. In fiscal year 2023, $168,000,000 is
requested for this research, which will generate new insights capable
of making wireless communication faster, smarter, more affordable, and
more robust and secure- with profound implications for science and
society.
(3) Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly and holds the
potential to vastly transform our lives. NSF is the largest non-defense
funder of artificial intelligence research and the agency's ability to
bring together numerous fields of scientific inquiry uniquely positions
the agency to lead the Nation in expanding the frontiers of AI.
Additionally, through collaboration and coordination with the Office of
Science and Technology Policy, NSF leadership is helping to drive and
coordinate AI R&D efforts across the government. In addition to
foundational research advancing the frontiers of learning, reasoning,
and planning, the key to harnessing the promise of artificial
intelligence is the use-inspired and translational research that links
artificial intelligence and economic sectors such as agriculture,
manufacturing, transportation, and personalized medicine. Equally
important is the investment in education and learning, including
growing the human capital and institutional capacity needed to nurture
the next generation of artificial intelligence researchers and
practitioners. In fiscal year 2023, $734,000,000 is requested for NSF's
AI investments, including continued support for the National AI
Research Institutes program, a growing partnership with other Federal
agencies and the private sector, to create national hubs for
universities, Federal and local agencies, industry, and nonprofits to
advance AI research and workforce development.
(4) Biotechnology comprises the data, tools, research
infrastructure, workforce capacity, and innovation that enable the
discovery, use, and alteration of living organisms, their constituent
components, and their biologically-related processes. NSF has long
supported the breadth of fundamental research that catalyzes ongoing
developments in biotechnology. In fiscal year 2023, $392,000,000 is
requested for NSF investments that will include continued support for
discovery of fundamental biological principles and the development of
biotechnologies, advances in bioinformatics, computational biology, and
systems biology, as well as advances in the future biotech workforce.
(5) Microelectronics and semiconductors are omnipresent in today's
world--in transportation, communications, healthcare, manufacturing,
information technology, and nearly every other part of our daily lives.
Yet, U.S.-led innovations in this area have slowed in recent decades,
and the Nation is now facing historically unprecedented global
competition and chip shortages impacting numerous sectors of the
economy. The overarching objective of NSF's investment in
microelectronics and semiconductors is to develop new paradigms in
semiconductor capabilities. With the fiscal year 2023 request of
$146,000,000, NSF will continue to invest in foundational research, in
use-inspired research, and in partnerships and infrastructure,
including access to chip fabrication facilities for the research
community, to seed a vibrant future for microelectronics and
semiconductors in the United States.
(6) Quantum Information Science (QIS) research will form the basis
of one of the major technological revolutions of the 21st century. NSF
investments advance fundamental understanding of uniquely quantum
phenomena that can be harnessed to promote information processing,
transmission, and measurement in new ways. Building upon more than
three decades of exploratory discovery, NSF investment in QIS will help
propel the Nation forward as a leading developer of quantum technology.
In fiscal year 2023, $261,000,000 is requested for NSF to invest in
foundational quantum science advances, helping mature a relatively new
field, which will have implications for computing, communications, and
many other critical industries.
investing in a diverse and inclusive stem workforce
There is tremendous untapped STEM potential throughout the Nation.
To meet the needs of the future workforce that is necessary for
successfully seeding innovation throughout the Nation, every person
needs access to quality STEM education opportunities. Every demographic
and socioeconomic group in every geographic region of the country is
full of talent that must be inspired and motivated to participate in
STEM and contribute to the Nation's innovation enterprise. We must
scale existing pathways into STEM fields and create new tracks into
science and engineering. The fiscal year 2023 request includes $1.38
billion for STEM education in support of the scientists and engineers
of today and tomorrow.
Each year, NSF investments reach approximately 300,000 people at
almost 2,000 institutions in every State and territory. Through their
work on NSF-supported grants, students, researchers, faculty,
technicians, entrepreneurs, and others develop the skills and knowledge
that prepares them for the jobs of the future. To ensure continued
global leadership in science and technology, we must inspire, nurture,
and advance domestic talent across our Nation. The future depends on
investment in inclusion, in diversity, in training STEM educators, and
in inspiring the next generations through formal and informal learning.
Continued global leadership also requires investment in the next
generation of scientists trained to pursue questions beyond the
traditional scientific disciplines. NSF is investing in education
research across all levels of learning-from preK-12 through graduate
education and beyond-which then informs education and training programs
to better develop skill sets in cutting-edge technologies, promote
highly collaborative team science, and foster greater diversity in the
workforce.
NSF is strongly committed to the development of a future-focused
science and engineering workforce that draws on the talents of all
Americans. Increasing equity in underserved communities must span a
wide range of stakeholders, from individuals traditionally identified
as underrepresented or underserved, to institutions of higher education
that serve groups underrepresented in STEM, to those communities, lands
and jurisdictions across the country that currently lack resources and
opportunities for robust education, workforce development, and regional
innovation.
In fiscal year 2023, NSF intends to build on existing programs and
develop new ones to strengthen and scale equity investments. NSF will
focus on those groups underserved and underrepresented in STEM and will
be more intentional in how we engage Minority Serving Institutions
(MSIs). NSF will further expand support for individuals and
institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions to ensure geographic diversity.
In fiscal year 2023, NSF requests $50,000,000 to launch a new
initiative called Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative
Equity and Diversity (GRANTED). GRANTED will improve the Nation's
research capacity at emerging and underserved research institutions
through a variety of mechanisms and programs aimed at advancing the
geography of innovation and engaging the Missing Millions, the millions
of young people and students who have the talent and drive to be part
of the STEM community but who have not been able to access STEM
opportunities. It will support the enhancement of research
administration and post-award management as well as the implementation
of effective practices for competitive proposal development, through
mechanisms such as research-coordination networks (RCNs) and
institutional partnership grants, ideas labs, and research enterprise
hubs in different geographic regions. GRANTED funding in fiscal year
2023 will focus on support for MSIs and aim to mitigate the barriers to
competitiveness at underserved institutions within the Nation's
research enterprise as NSF contributes to the Administration's priority
on equity.
world-class research infrastructure
NSF invests in world-class research facilities, instrumentation,
and scientific capabilities to ensure that researchers have access to
the most cutting-edge scientific equipment. Through the Major Research
Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) projects, NSF has built
the world's most powerful solar telescope, transformative optical and
radio telescopes, state-of-the-art research vessels, and complex
facilities in the harshest environments, including at the South Pole.
The fiscal year 2023 request continues these investments, including
long-term upgrades of NSF's major Antarctic infrastructure. It also
supports construction of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, two detector
upgrades at the High Luminosity-Large Hadron Collider, and the Regional
Class Research Vessels. NSF is also investing in smaller scale, but
equally important research infrastructure that serves a vital purpose
for the United States' research and innovation enterprise. The Mid-
scale Research Infrastructure program is aimed at transforming
scientific and engineering research fields as well as inspiring STEM
talent. Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (RI) can also serve as a
proving ground for new and innovative major research facilities. In
fiscal year 2023, NSF will invest a total of $126.25 million in Mid-
scale RI, split between two tracks, Mid-scale RI-1 ($50,000,000),
funded through the Research & Related Activities account, and Mid-scale
RI-2 ($76.25 million), funded through the MREFC account. Through these
two tracks, the Mid-scale RI program is providing U.S. researchers
access to critical infrastructure, including testbeds, living
laboratories, and prototyping facilities, across the spectrum of
disciplines supported by NSF.
The Nation's science and engineering activities rely on facilities
and instruments that are geographically and technically accessible,
cost-effective, and managed well. To meet the infrastructure needs of
the entire community, NSF is dedicated to supporting activities that
ensure that instrumentation and research infrastructure can be
designed, developed, acquired, or constructed across the Nation,
through programs with focused oversight and targeted investments.
Moreover, a sizeable portion of NSF's resources is invested in the
ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M) activities necessary to keep
research infrastructure at the cutting edge, and fully operational and
accessible to those who use it to advance the boundaries of science.
The fiscal year 2023 facilities O&M request continues to reflect a
balance among multiple priorities. NSF divisions carefully allocate
resources between research grants and O&M costs for research
infrastructure. In addition to the regular O&M funding that keeps
facilities functional, support for upgrades, significant periodic
maintenance, and infrastructure renewal must also be addressed within
Facilities O&M, which accounts for 10 percent of NSF's total request in
fiscal year 2023. NSF continues to explore ways to invest in research
infrastructure at all scales in order to keep pace with changing
technologies, increased demand by users, and expanding research
opportunities.
nsf responsiveness to covid-19
NSF is grateful to the Administration and Congress for the support
of the research ecosystem during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the
funding provided by the ``Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security Act,'' or ``CARES Act,'' NSF was able to mobilize the research
community to make critical contributions to fighting the SARS-CoV-2
virus, including research to model the virus's structure, create new
products to mitigate the virus's spread, and develop new treatments and
vaccines. From equipment delays and reagent shortages to lost training
time and missed field research, the pandemic also strained research
projects in unique ways. With the continued support from Congress and
the Administration, including the $600,000,000 provided in the American
Rescue Plan act of 2021 (ARP), NSF has been able to support groups of
individuals and institutions most affected by the pandemic, as well as
those at vulnerable transition points in their research careers. With
more than $450,000,000 of the ARP funding obligated to date, NSF has
been able to make more than 1,300 awards spanning all disciplines of
science and engineering- supporting researchers, students, facilities
and more. Thanks to these investments, NSF has been able to support
innovative research ideas and sustain critical research talent that is
central to our long-term competitiveness that could have been lost
during the pandemic without the support that the Administration and
Congress made available.
securing taxpayer-funded research
NSF is expanding capabilities and competencies to protect the U.S.
science and engineering enterprise through its Research Security
Strategy and Policy activity. In January 2022, the Office of Science
and Technology Policy, through the National Science and Technology
Council, issued implementation guidance for National Security
Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) on the National Security Strategy
for United States Government-Supported Research and Development. NSF is
working together with other Federal research agencies to establish
uniform mechanisms for researchers to provide agencies with consistent
information on their appointments, activities, and sources of research
support; many of these mechanisms will be made available to the
community during fiscal year 2023. Consistent with its published System
of Records Notice, NSF has established processes to proactively
identify conflicts of commitment, vulnerabilities of pre-publication
research, and risks at various stages of the research funding
enterprise from proposal submission to the performance of NSF-funded
research. To ensure clear understanding of research security issues,
NSF disclosure requirements, and the tenets of beneficial international
collaboration, NSF is leading the efforts to develop training resources
for staff and the research community that will continue to be refined
in fiscal year 2023. NSF is also commissioning a JASON study in fiscal
year 2022 to provide guidance on the establishment of a Research on
Research Security funding program that is expected to begin in fiscal
year 2023.
NSF participation in discussions with the U.S. research community
and with international colleagues is key to the success of the agency's
activities, which includes the development of common frameworks for
understanding research security. That is why NSF is co-leading the U.S.
efforts to work with G7 nations on research security and integrity. NSF
is committed to strong partnerships across the Federal Government, with
academia, and with our like-minded international partners to ensure
that we can uphold the values of openness, transparency and reciprocity
that have made the international research environment so successful.
conclusion
At a time of intense global competition, the fiscal year 2023
Budget Request for NSF positions the agency to lead the Nation in
innovation, discovery, and STEM education to build a more diverse and
inclusive workforce and unleash economic and societal progress. With
the new TIP Directorate established, NSF is well positioned to leverage
the uniquely American innovation system in which investment in
fundamental research is intertwined with strong partnerships among
government, academia, and industry. With a keen focus on strengthening
NSF's investments in exploratory, curiosity-driven research and use-
inspired innovations, NSF will build on seven decades of preeminence in
STEM to catalyze partnerships that produce breakthroughs and
advancements in emerging industries like artificial intelligence and
quantum information science. In this way, NSF will ensure that the
United States is in the vanguard of global competitiveness.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. With the
continued support of this Committee and the Congress, NSF will continue
to unleash rapid innovations, and foster ecosystems of innovation
throughout the country to ensure that the United States remains the
global leader in science, engineering, innovation, and technology.
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\1\ National Science Board, National Science Foundation. 2022.
Science and Engineering Indicators 2022: The State of U.S. Science and
Engineering. NSB-2022-1. Alexandria, VA. Available at https://
ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20221.
Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you both very much for your
testimony. We will now enter 5-minute questioning rounds, and I
will begin.
Administrator Nelson, I think the whole world has been
transfixed on Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine and what is
happening there. And part of what we have heard from the
rhetoric coming out of Russia is the suggestion that they may
no longer participate with us in the International Space
Station, and they may look to China to partner on space
activities. Can you talk about how concerned we should be about
that and whether you are hearing at NASA's level any chatter
that they may actually be pulling out of our partnership there?
Senator Nelson. Madam Chair, they are not pulling out. In
the last day or so, there are misleading headlines. If you read
the articles, it says something else of comments that were made
by people in Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. I want you to
think about this issue in a historical context. In the height
of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a Soviet spacecraft and
an American spacecraft rendezvoused and docked in space, and
the crews lived together and worked together in space led by
General Tom Stafford and General Alexei Leonov. That personal
friendship endured over the years, so much so, when Alexi
passed away a couple of years ago, who gave the eulogy at the
funeral in Moscow? None other than General Tom Stafford, and
that cooperation in civil space has continued to this day.
First, there was a Russian space station. There was Mir,
and the U.S. Space Program--space shuttle docked with Mir, then
together we built the International Space Station.
Theoretically, you cannot operate the space station without
both. The Russians had the propulsion, the altitude control.
The U.S. has the electricity production. I see nothing in the
very even-keeled professional relationship between the
cosmonauts and the astronauts, between mission control in
Moscow and Houston, in the training of Russian cosmonauts in
America and the training of American astronauts in Moscow and
Baikonur, I see nothing that has interrupted that professional
relationship, no matter how awful Putin is conducting a war
with such disastrous results in Ukraine.
Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you. That is really nice to
hear, and I have been encouraged by the reports that we have
seen about recent cooperation between the cosmonauts and our
astronauts. Can you also comment on China and what you are
seeing with respect to China and Russia cooperating in space?
Senator Nelson. Now, China is completely a different
experience for the U.S. Space Program because there has not
been any transparency. They are very secretive. An example:
they put up their space station and the first stage of the
rocket. They did not save enough fuel so that they could have a
controlled reentry. This is about a year or two ago, and as a
result, it was going to come down someplace. Fortunately, it
came down in the Indian Ocean, but it could have come down
somewhere in Europe. It could have come down in Saudi Arabia.
And they were secretive about the coordinates of where it was
going to come down.
I have since talked to the Chinese ambassador, and he gave
me the opening. He said, well, what could we do. I said, I will
give you an example of exactly what you could do to begin
things. You, 50 years after us, have returned a sample from the
moon. Fifty years ago, we made our sample of the lunar soil and
rocks available to the international scientific community. You
could do the same. Thus far, they have not indicated anything,
so it has been a very strained relationship with the Chinese
space program.
What is the extent of cooperation with Russia--between
Russia and China? I am simply not sure. China has made
entreaties to Russia, Russia has flirted with China, and you
remember Putin went to the opening of the Olympics as the guest
of President Xi, but we do not know to what extent. We do know
that because of the professional relationship and what I
believe to be the intention of the Russian space program to
continue with the space station, and now that we have gotten
the White House approval of extending the space station until
2030, if you all appropriate funds, and, of course, what we
want to do is continue it until we have a commercial space
station and then deorbit an aging space station in 2031. But we
see every reason that the Russians are going to continue on the
space station for the immediate future, and, of course, we
personally hope that they will continue with us all the way to
2030.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much. Senator Moran.
RETURNING HUMANS TO THE MOON
Senator Moran. Chair, thank you very much. Administrator
Nelson, given the amount of work that remains to be done with
test flights and developing and testing a lander and space
suits, what do you see as the largest technical threat to
landing our astronauts on the moon by 2025?
Senator Nelson. First of all, you all have helped us so
that that landing will occur because there have been
indications, and we hope that you will consider favorably the
President's request to start competition in a human lander.
Now, as it turned out, the first competition, NASA simply did
not have enough money to award for two landers. And by far, the
most economical of the three competitors was the one that was
given the nod--SpaceX--for the first landing. That is a done
contract. What we wanted to do, and what you all, the Congress,
have made particularly clear to me through hearings all last
year, and I happen to agree with you, is that you wanted
competition for the ultimate lander. So on the basis of that,
we have started the initial process, and if you deem it wise in
giving us the appropriations which the President has requested,
then we will have a simultaneous competition excluding SpaceX
because they already have that under procurement law and cannot
participate in the next competition. The winner of that
competition would have the opportunity, as SpaceX, to land an
uncrewed lander first and then do the crude landing. They would
have that opportunity.
And then we would have two landers somewhere in the 2027
timeframe, having both already landed to make the ultimate
choice of the lander that would last for some period of time as
the lander on the moon. That is a decision that you will have
to make in this President's request, and I believe that that is
the plan that can bring us all the value of competition. You
get it done with that competitive spirit, you get it done
cheaper, and that allows us to move away from what has been a
plague on us in the past, which is a cost-plus contract, and
move to an existing contractual price.
AERONAUTIC CAPABILITIES
Senator Moran. Thank you for your answer. Let me ask about
aeronautics. You did mention that it has a great value to
Kansas and the country. That portfolio includes everything from
low-sonic boom aircraft to developing advanced materials and
technologies that lead us to a safer, cleaner, more fuel
efficient aircraft. You are asking for an increase of $90
million to further our understanding of aeronautics. That is a
$972 million dollars request.
While NASA is involved in identifying and improving this
research, there are great opportunities within the university
research community to improve our understanding and develop
aeronautic capabilities within the aviation sector. How does
NASA intend to use its proposed aeronautics budget to build
upon the strong university research capabilities that exist
today to solve current and future aeronautical problems of
tomorrow?
Senator Nelson. Well, for example, at Wichita State, they
are working on composites. Here is the problem today with
composites. You can do an airliner, like the, I think it is
called the 787. It is a composite body. It is much lighter, but
it is kind of like a one-of-a-kind. You need to be able to
stretch that process out where you can make composites and it
be much more of an assembly line situation. Wichita State is
working on that. You get that to the point through aeronautical
research that NASA is working on so that we can start popping
out air frames that are composites. Then you have saved a lot
of weight, and, therefore, you have saved a lot of fuel, and
you have gotten a lot greater efficiencies. And according to
the passengers that fly on the 787, it is also more comfortable
inside because of the humidity.
Senator Moran. It seems like you agree with me that the
private university--the public and private universities are of
value to NASA and to the country in this regard.
Senator Nelson. Absolutely, and as a matter of fact,
Senator Shaheen was here 12 years ago when we passed the new
NASA bill on a track where there was going to be the government
program, and there was going to be a commercial program, and we
are seeing the fruits of that, for example, going to and from
the International Space Station today because we are
transporting crew by NASA contracting with SpaceX and
eventually Boeing. And Boeing should launch its spacecraft, by
the way, in a week or so, and this is a test flight, and then
the crew would be later this year. So we would have two ways of
getting to the International Space Station--SpaceX and Boeing--
and we have already got lots of ways to get cargo up there,
including Northrop Grumman launching from Senator Van Hollen's
constituency. It is actually right across the State line in
Virginia, but most of the people live in Maryland that work
there at Wallops Island launch facility.
And so there is just so much that is happening in the
commercial area, whether it is done directly under NASA's
government contracts or whether NASA contracts with commercial
entities in order to produce what we are asking them to
produce. Now, when it comes to safety, NASA is all over it. We
are not simply going to put up crew in spacecraft that are not
safe, even though we have contracted with a commercial company,
and the proof is in the pudding. Look what has happened with
commercial crew going to and from the International Space
Station.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Senator Moran. Senator Van
Hollen.
WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and to the
Ranking Member. Great to have both of you here. Administrator
Nelson, thank you for your enthusiasm, for all the initiatives
that you are overseeing, and for presenting a budget that
includes important investments in space exploration and
discovery, as well as robust funding for earth sciences, which
you said are very important to all of us and encompass many of
the Maryland-based missions, including at Goddard.
And appreciate the funding for PACE, for OSAM 1, and,
again, continuing support for the Webb Telescope. We are all
thrilled with the fact that that deployed successfully, and we
all know a million things had to go right in order for that to
be successful, and it has been. And I am very proud of all the
folks at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who
were responsible for mission operations for the Webb as well as
about 2,000 other Marylanders at Goddard and other places. And
as you say, we all look forward to getting the first images
back soon.
Thank you for mentioning Wallops. I am going to spend a
moment focusing on the Wallops Flight Facility, which, as you
indicated, is critical to our space and earth science missions.
It is a hub for unmanned flight. It is a supplier to the
International Space Station. It is a home to NASA's Balloon
Program. This is a great budget, but it does have a shortcoming
in that it does not include the funds that we have
traditionally provided to the 21st Century Launch Complex
Program. Other Administrations have also admitted that, and we
have worked on a bipartisan basis to make sure those funds are
provided because Wallops is attracting new commercial space
partners. It is growing, and I think you have acknowledged as
well in your infrastructure needs budget the importance of the
Wallops Island Causeway Bridge.
So Mr. Administrator, I know you have been there, just your
commitment to work with us to make sure that that is a success.
Senator Nelson. Not only do you have my commitment. I have
been out there, and we are afraid that bridge is going to fall
in the water.
Senator Van Hollen. Yes.
Senator Nelson. And it is the number one priority, and I
thought with machinations with some of your colleagues on this
Committee that we were going to get it in the 2022 budget. I
may get in trouble by saying this, but I hope that there is
going to be kind of infrastructure bill that is still going to
come out of the Senate that would allow us then to have high-
priority, desperately-needed infrastructure projects like the
Wallops Island Bridge be taken care of.
Senator Van Hollen. Yes.
Senator Nelson. The only way we got some of the others was
that you all passed our hurricane emergency supplemental, and
we got the roof being done down in New Orleans on the big
facility down there, but we have not been able to get that
Wallops Bridge--yes.
Senator Van Hollen. I hear you. I hear you, Mr.
Administrator. We are going to work on that. I mean, the
infrastructure modernization bill had a lot of good investments
in it, but it did neglect some critical U.S. Government
investments like this one. I mean, obviously if you do not have
a bridge going to the Wallops Space Complex, you are in a world
of hurt. I do want to flag also the issue of bridge repair over
the BW Parkway for Goddard.
Mr. Administrator, let me ask you about heliophysics
because I indicated that I think the budget is a good one, but
in the area of heliophysics, there is a slight reduction, which
I will work with my colleagues to remedy. But I do want to
applaud you for your continued support to the science
directorate. If you look at the Heliophysics Division's budget,
it has been reduced. I think that is a mistake, especially as
we witness the impact of solar flares on Starlink satellites,
and space weather, as you know, poses a serious risk to our
satellites and communication systems. So I have--I also believe
you are--you are committed to that mission.
In my remaining time, Dr. Panch, if I could just thank you
also for all your work at the National Science Foundation.
Quantum science is obviously a critical area for our country,
and you mentioned it in your remarks, and Maryland is an
important center for quantum information science. Can you
elaborate a little bit more on what you are doing in that area,
and at the same time, talk a little bit more about your efforts
to bring HBCUs--
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes.
Senator Van Hollen [continuing]. Into your efforts to make
sure that all of our talent is on the playing field when it
comes to science.
QUANTUM INFORMATION SCIENCE
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you, Senator, for asking the
question. As you pointed out, it is a very, very important
technology, and it is very important that we stay in the
vanguard of innovation. It turns out yesterday, I was giving a
talk at IBM Yorktown, and I was standing in front of the
quantum computer right there and admiring the tremendous work
that has gone into it in terms of many, many things: materials,
devices, the fabrication technologies, of course, that goes
with it, the Quantum Information Science, and a whole lot more,
and the quantum networking, all of those things that have come
together in order for us to be building such a fantastic
machine. And I was told that it is deployed not only across the
United States but also will be deployed all across the globe,
so really a world leader in this.
From an NSF perspective, this investment has happened for
several decades. We are here today because of the sustained
investments that NSF has made in all aspects, whether it is
physics, chemistry, you know, material science, computing,
engineering, and a whole lot more, over several decades to get
to the point where we are right now. And I am very thrilled to
say that through a partnership with the Department of Energy
and other partners, we are continuing to invest in quantum
institutes, which are large-scale partnerships, to be able to
advance it at speed and scale, as I would often say. We also
have a number of investments in terms of how we take these
ideas to action in terms of entrepreneurial ventures and
supporting industry partnerships, things of that nature, and
that is why I was there at IBM yesterday.
But as you said, the most important thing for us is to make
sure that we have the quantum workforce. This is an exceedingly
important imperative. Yes, we will have great quantum
researchers, and we will continue to invest in that, but we
need to make sure that we have quantum inspiration starting not
just at the university level but right at the K to 12 level. So
we have a Q-12 Program, which essentially is focused on K to 12
inspirations of quantum. How might we get quantum foundry-like
ideas accessible for high school children to be able to, and
middle school children to be able to, get excited about quantum
science? How can we relate quantum futures at the K to 12
level? So this is something that we are working with many
partners to develop that kind of curriculum at the K to 12
level.
HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
To your point about HBCUs, we have a program called Expand
QISE, Quantum Information Science and Engineering. This is
precisely the focus. How might we get the quantum futures also
exciting people at HBCUs, at other MSIs, Hispanic-serving
institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, so we are
working diligently with our partners? Specific to HBCUs, since
we met last, Senator, I have had many conversations with HBCU
presidents and chancellors, and I am thrilled to report that
one of those presidents and chancellors is University of
Maryland Eastern Shore President Anderson, and so we had good
conversations and asking them how might we have more
Historically Black Colleges and Universities. How might we have
the minority- serving institutions, R2 institutions, also
participating in the quantum revolution? We also need community
colleges in this because it requires a lot of technical skills
also to be part of how we build the quantum future.
So we are working on all of this in terms of STEM training
for talent everywhere to be inspired by quantum.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Senator Capito.
COMMERICAL LANDER
Senator Capito. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you both
for being here today. Administrator Nelson, it is good to see
you. About a week ago I was pleased to be at a conference--I
just missed you. You came, I think, the next day, but I was
with a couple of your leaders, James Reuter and Thomas
Zurbuchen from the Space Technology and Science areas. And the
goal is to combine the skill and resources, both in people and
capabilities, of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania regions
to become more active contributors to our space industrial
base. A really exciting conference. I have seen this firsthand
at Constellium and Ravenswood, which does a lot of the
aluminum, and then also I toured the Astrobotic--I do not know
if you got to do that--while we were in Pittsburgh, which was
exciting to see what they are going to be landing in the 4th
quarter.
So how do you see this perspective? I know you touched on
it a bit with the question that I heard with Senator Moran, the
private sector and even the more rural parts of our Nation that
can really capitalize on the exciting, I think, futures in
space?
Senator Nelson. Specifically, that consortium of three
States is responsible for 10,000 jobs in the three States, and
it is impressive what you all have done. Also, while I was
there, I did go to Astrobotic, and they revealed the first
commercial lander on the moon. This will be, and it will be
later this year, this will be the first U.S. landing on the
moon since a half century ago when we last landed with Gene
Cernan on Apollo 17. And this is going to be a commercial
landing under the CLPS Program, of which we have incentivized
the commercial industry to build the landers and put scientific
payloads on them, many of which are NASA payloads, and do all
kinds of things without NASA having to do the lander.
And so, for example, there are three companies that are
going to be landing. One of those companies is going to have a
NASA instrument on it. It will land on the South Pole. It will
dig down to see if the water that we know is there in the
shadowed crevices on the South Pole, which is now ice, is there
water underneath, and if so, then there is the potential for
rocket fuel, hydrogen, and oxygen. And so these are the kind of
things that you are doing out there in combining the efforts of
three States, and it is only going to grow.
Senator Capito. Yes, it was really exciting to hear not
just the private sector, but that higher ed, educational, and
the nonprofit community. As you know, Pittsburgh has some
really great community organizations from their long history of
building this country, that they have now--are now sustaining
and looking at space.
Let me ask you one other question about the upcoming OSAM--
it used to be called Restore-L--and because West Virginia's
Robotic Technology Center is a part of that. That is the in-
space service, assembly, and manufacturing of satellites. What
do you think--how important is this? I mean, I can see it, but
if you could quantify a little bit.
Senator Nelson. Hugely important.
Senator Capito. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Senator Nelson. If we are able to service a spacecraft on
orbit, then we get extra life out of it.
Senator Capito. Right.
Senator Nelson. Not only repairs and maintenance, but also
fueling.
Senator Capito. Right.
Senator Nelson. And so it makes sense.
Senator Capito. Right.
Senator Nelson. And we are developing--NASA's developing
this capability. We have contracted out for commercial entities
to do this as well. And by the way, before you get through, I
just want to give kudos to you. You know, we have what we call
the IV&V Center--
Senator Capito. Right.
Senator Nelson [continuing]. In West Virginia--
Senator Capito. Mm-hmm.
Senator Nelson [continuing]. Independent verification and
validation of software.
Senator Capito. Right.
Senator Nelson. That is so super important to NASA, and I
am going to be there in a couple of weeks, and I hope your
schedule on a Monday morning works out so that you can come
with us. And then I will try to get you and whoever in the
delegation is with us back to Washington.
Senator Capito. Sounds great. That is named for Katherine
Johnson, as you know, one of our proud West Virginians. I was
there for the dedication. I look forward to that, and I will be
looking at my schedule. Thank you. I have a question for you,
but I will submit it for the record. Thank you so much.
Senator Nelson. Thank you so much, Senator. Good seeing
you.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Senator Capito.
Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, where I
come from, which was running a business for 37 years prior to
getting here, investment was always the most important thing
you had to consider. When you invest, there is a return on it,
and if you do not do it well in business or government, you end
up paying the price. Your competitors generally outmaneuver you
in the long run.
When we are looking at both NASA, the National Science
Foundation, you might be surprised, but I think we ought to be
putting as many resources into it as we can. It is one of the
few things that, even though it may not be tangible, it is very
important, and sometimes it is very tangible as well in terms
of what it yields down the road. So I am one that generally
always thinks of the particulars, which I see $23.27 billion
enacted in fiscal year 2021, $24.04 request, $25. That is about
as mild a request in terms of increases of anything I have seen
since I have been here. It is in the context, though, that we
are $30 trillion in debt. That is such a complicated subject.
All I can tell you, it is not a great business plan to borrow
your way into the future when a lot of it does not give you a
true return on investment.
I want to talk about I think what is even a more an
existential discussion, and that is our main geopolitical
competitor. So, Dr. Panch, when it comes to the Chinese, they
are not apologetic. They are not even quiet about it. They
would want to replace us someday and do it, I think, by merit,
according to maybe what they might think that might be, but in
the meantime, I have observed them as being ones that, I do not
know, their handshake business partners. And if we do enable
and invest more in the National Science Foundation or NASA, how
are we sure that with their behavior, especially when you are
maybe doing it to some extent where there is--even if it is not
shared information, it could be extracted, how are we certain
that we are going to do it in a way that keeps us secure and
does not aid the competition? And then, Mr. Nelson, I would
like you to answer that same question as it would apply to
NASA. Go ahead.
RESEARCH SECURITY STRATEGY POLICY AND CHINA
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you very much, Senator, for that
question. I often say research is security. Research is
research integrity. Research integrity is research security. So
clearly, before I get to the specific question about China, we
are working with international partners who share our values,
who share our values of research integrity, transparency,
openness, and also reciprocity. So we are working with partners
who emphasize that, and we are building those partnerships.
So one of the things that NSF did 2 years ago, and I was at
that time on the National Science Board, is we commissioned a
security group called JASON, and we asked them to look at the
problem so that it is not just an internal thing only but an
external group of experts looking at it and giving us advice in
terms of how do we move forward in research security. And we
are pretty much following the guidelines that have been given
to us by JASON, of course, in consultation with many other
constituencies.
One of the principal recommendations that was made was to
appoint a chief officer for Research Security Strategy and
Policy, whose job it is to, every day, wake up and think about
research security on its own--in its many forms to make sure
that we are protecting those things that need to be protected,
and set up the policies that need to be set and put in place
for that to be, you know, exercised in its fullest form. And I
am very happy to say that that person reports directly to me,
and that was part of the recommendation. But more importantly--
yes.
Senator Braun. Are you confident that in this case,
especially with what we have observed over the last decade or
so, especially more recently, that it will be foolproof, it
will not be breached if we are making these investments to
where it would be nothing more than giving them information
that would end up hurting us somehow in the long run?
Dr. Panchanathan. Senator, this is where I think the
partnership with agencies, and that is what we are working with
right now, NSF is closely partnering with this chief officer,
with the intelligence agencies, with other agencies like NASA,
with the Department of Energy, and all these agencies because
it is an all-of-government approach. In fact, NSF co-leads with
the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with the
Department of Energy, and NIH to make sure that the policies
that we are putting in place is consistent across the board for
all researchers in institutions that we essentially invest in.
And so I can tell you that we have constant conversations
about this. In fact, I will tell you since we met last time, we
have developed an analytic software that can actually look at
where people are supposed to be declaring their conflicts of
interest and things of that nature of commitment, that they are
surfaced, and we are able to then make sure that people are
ensuring that they are declaring their conflicts, as the case
may be. But more importantly, the work happens in the academic
institutions. So we are partnering with the academic
institutions to make sure that the policies that we are putting
in place are going to be, you know, essentially implemented.
But in terms of taking care of any breaches, we work very
closely with the Office of Inspector General. As you know, it
is an independent entity from NSF, and we make sure that we
take care of any such situations.
Senator Braun. Thank you because it looks like you are well
aware of the potential of what might happen. Mr. Nelson, would
you weigh in?
Senator Nelson. Senator, your question about China, I have
made no bones about, in response to Senator Shaheen, they are
simply not transparent. They have not cooperated. We have given
them ample opportunities, and I will not repeat what is already
on the record for the Committee. We would welcome that, but we
would be very guarded in our dealings with the Chinese. But
thus far, all the opportunities that we have given them, and
the example that I gave was that life was threatened on the
face of the earth with the uncontrolled entry of their first
stage of their rocket when they put up their space station. Not
only had they not saved enough fuel for a controlled reentry,
and, thank goodness, it came down in the Indian Ocean, but it
could have come down in Europe, and it could have come down in
Saudi Arabia.
And not only had they not done that, but they refused to
give us coordinates and information about the track. We
fortunately had our own information about the track, so we were
pretty on top of it, but it is just another illustration. And
it is such a contrast to what we have been doing with the
Russians ever since the Soviet Union, in 1975, where the
civilian space program has always had a cooperation to this
point now and going forward, why this is such an international
space program with the Japanese and the European Space Agency,
and now the UAE are all participating with us, not only on the
space station, but as we go to the moon and the gateway, which
is like a space station, that will orbit the moon.
Senator Braun. Well, thank you for being vigilant and alert
to the potential. Thank you.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Senator Braun. Senator Braun
raised the issue of investing, and I agree. I think it is one
of the reasons that I support the U.S. Innovation and
Competition Act, because I think that is a place where we are
investing in science in a way that we really need to, science
and innovation. And one of the provisions that is included in
that that I support requires that at least 20 percent of NSF
investment go to EPSCOR States, like New Hampshire.
So, Dr. Panch, can you talk about why it is important for
us to also encourage small States to participate in EPSCOR and
to invest in those programs?
ENCOURAGING STATE PARTICIPATION IN EPSCOR
Dr. Panchanathan. Madam Chair, thank you so much for that
question. If you recall, last year when I gave the testimony, I
said talent and ideas are democratized all across our Nation,
no exception. I happen to come from one of the small States,
too, and, therefore, I fully understand that when you energize
talent everywhere, I think innovation will happen, can happen
anywhere. I always say innovation anywhere, opportunities
everywhere, for which we need to energize talent everywhere.
I have been deeply committed to this since I got in. In
fact, the central pillar of my three-pillar vision is about
ensuring inclusivity access and ensuring that we embrace
diversity of all kinds: diversity of geography, socioeconomic,
demographic, and racial diversity. So we need to make sure that
talent everywhere is energized, so that is the first point that
I want to lead off with.
So if you look at some of the programs that NSF has
launched, let us take the AI institutes or the quantum, even,
programs. You will be very pleased to know that AI institutes
right now, with just two rounds, with 16 institutes, spans 40
States and the District of Columbia, and a third round is
coming in. And this is an intentional effort because I truly
believe that AI is everywhere, and AI should be everywhere, and
quantum, likewise, should be inspired everywhere.
So I think in terms, therefore, how do we get these ideas
that we say are everywhere to rise up? And that is why I talked
about this new program that we launched where, if you look at
institutions that truly deserve the level of investments with
the fantastic ideas that is everywhere, one way of doing that
is to make sure some of the institutions have the research
infrastructure support that makes it possible for them to rise
up and be successful in the gold standard merit review process
of NSF. How do we get those institutions, and other
institutions also to play ball? And this is why the GRANTED
Program is a virtual research infrastructure office.
How do we get to such developments support? How do we get
pre-award, and post-award support? How do we get support in
terms of how we transact intellectual property? How do we build
a partnership with industry? This kind of support that--is not
necessarily available in all institutions. How do we make it
possible in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, in
other MSIs, in States like the EPSCOR States, where there is a
lot of talent and ideas that need to be lifted up? So I am a
huge fan of the GRANTED program to lift those ideas and make
them successful. So I am very, very comfortable with the fact
that we have it as an aspirational goal of how we might invest
in all these States, the ESPCOR States included, in a way that
can bring out those talents and ideas.
Senator Shaheen. And so you would agree then that helping
to build that infrastructure also means ensuring that NSF's
large-scale programs, like science and technology centers,
engineering research center, midscale infrastructure, AI
institutes, the new technology directors, director, and all of
those should also encompass EPSCOR States.
Dr. Panchanathan. Absolutely. In fact, I have made the
point, in fact, publicly I have said this, that when
institutions like R1 institutions lead and some--they bring in
partnership other institutions, I have said that we should also
look at R2 institutions, and MSIs, and HBCUs. Sometimes they
should be the lead and R1s should be partner institutions. And
so I am fully in concert with the fact that all these
institutions can be everywhere and should be everywhere because
ideas are everywhere.
Senator Shaheen. And does that 20 percent of NSF
investment, is that a goal that allows us to do that?
Dr. Panchanathan. So an aspirational goal because if the
GRANTED Program, as we have outlined it, which I am confident
is going to be wildly successful, you will find that we will
end up over the years that we are essentially probably
exceeding even that kind of investment that goes to the EPSCOR
States and the regions of our Nation where the investments are
not as prominent right now. So, you know, as an aspirational
goal, it is a good goal to have.
Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you. I am counting on--Senator
Moran is a member of--a conferee of the conference committee to
hold tight on that 20 percent to go to EPSCOR States, small
EPSCOR States, so share that with Senator Moran since he is not
here right now.
Let me also ask you, Dr. Panch, about the number of
additional grants that NSF would be able to fund if you are
funded at the request level. What does that allow you to do
that you would not be able to do otherwise, and how do you see
that contributing to our goal of promoting innovation and
competition?
ADDITIONAL GRANT FUNDING WITH FISCAL YEAR 2023 REQUEST LEVEL
Dr. Panchanathan. Madam Chair, if you will recall the last
testimony that I gave, I talked about the numbers of grants,
what we need, and what we are leaving on the cutting room
floor. I, in fact, invoked this when I was with Senator Moran
in Kansas when a question was asked from a faculty member who
had gotten a competitive rating and said, but I did not get
funded, right? So NSF, we receive about 40,000 to 50,000 grant
proposals a year. Last year, for example, it was about 43,000
grant proposals. We fund about 11,000 of them, a 25-percent
sort of a success rate, let us put it that way. Now, clearly,
if you ask me, Panch, so what is the number of proposals that
are recommended by the Gold Standard Merit Review Process that
the NSF, you know, is very well known for, it turns out it is
close to about, you know, one-third, or 30 percent, of the
proposals. So clearly, we have a number of proposals that are
ranked competitive that are left behind on the cutting room
floor, right? So right now, with 25 percent, with the new
investments that are being proposed, we will get to about 2,800
more proposals, our success rate going from 25 percent to 26
percent.
But I also talked about the size of our grants last time.
You know, I said average is about 200K. We need to work towards
raising it to 300K. With this increase, we will get from 200K
to 240K. You know, we will be part way there. We will be 20
percent of the way there, and so the 50 percent that we desire,
but that is a good trend to take to where we need to be in
terms of how we should get this done. And I see this as a
national security issue because the unfunded ideas and unfunded
proposals are the ones that our competitors invest in, and we
should not leave that on the cutting room floor.
And I am hoping, and I am grateful for all of you for
recognizing that, and I am grateful to the President and the
Administration for investing in NSF because this would make
that possible.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Senator Moran is back, but
while he is still getting settled--
Senator Moran. If you would ask another question--
Senator Shaheen. Yes.
Senator Moran [continuing]. I would be grateful.
Senator Shaheen. I will do that because I wanted to wait
until you got back to follow up on your question to
Administrator Nelson about the 2025 date, because, obviously,
it depends on a lot of things going right if we are going to
make that 2025 date. And I was a little fuzzy on how confident
you are that that can actually happen. So can you tell us today
that, if you get your budget request, that you will be able to
make that 2025 date for the landing?
MOON FLIGHT TIMELINE
Senator Nelson. We will not fly astronauts until it is
safe, and if that means there is a delay, then we will delay.
But we have every reason to believe that we are on a schedule
that, first of all, that Artemis will certainly, through the
SLS Rocket and the Orion Spacecraft, be ready, and we will have
flown in 2024 a crew after this first test flight later this
year. We will have flown a crew in a 30-day mission in lunar
orbit. And then we have every confidence to feel that, under
the contract with SpaceX, that in 2024, they will land an
uncrewed lander as part of their demonstration, and that a year
later, in 2025, that we will be ready for them to have launched
their lander into lunar orbit. Orion goes into lunar orbit, the
crew is transferred, and the lander goes down and lands and
stays for whatever the prescribed time is, a day or so, and
then they come back and rendezvous in lunar orbit with Orion,
and come home.
Now, of course, we believe that that is the schedule, but I
can just tell you that if I am making the decisions, it is not
going to fly until it is safe.
Senator Shaheen. Well, I certainly think we would all
expect no less than that--
Senator Nelson. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. That certainly needs to be
the bottom line for the decisionmaking. My question is really,
assuming that it is safe, are we going to meet all those other
deadlines in order to ensure that it is safe--
Senator Nelson. Yes.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. And get the landing done?
Senator Nelson. And I appreciate your question, and you
ought to ask that question. It is also true that every space
mission that we have had, there have been delays. You think
back to Apollo. Look what happened after the Apollo 1 fire. I
mean, they were down for over 2 years and still, with an
incredible amount of money poured in, were able to make
President Kennedy's goal of landing on the moon by the end of
the decade. Look at the space shuttle, the space shuttle, a
fantastic flying machine, by the way, that we now know had
certain technical flaws, and we lost 14 souls. It, too, was
delayed until 1981 when, in fact, a lot of people thought that
it was going to fly not long after Apollo-Soyuz in 1975 and fly
in the late 70s. It did not happen, and look what happened.
When we lost Challenger, we were down 2-1/2 years, and then in
2003, we lost Columbia and were down another couple of years
and the further delays.
So you cannot go until it is right, but all these things
cost money. These delays cost money. That is another reason we
had a question here about competition. That is another reason
to get to fix-priced contracts and then hold them to it, and we
are doing that with the landers for the moon.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you. Senator Moran.
MAINTAINING BASIC RESEARCH LEVELS WHILE ESTABLISHING TIP DIRECTORATE
Senator Moran. Thank you, Chair. Dr. Panch, again, thank
you for your presence here and your leadership at NSF. Let me
begin by talking about the TIP Directorate. You mentioned in
your testimony about the development of the new directorate,
and you did so with great excitement. The NSF budget proposes
$880 million for the continued establishment of the TIP
Directorate, which is now about 20 percent of the total amount
that is being requested for research. Is NSF balancing the
creation of the TIP Directorate while preserving its basic
research foundation, the bedrock of NSF's work, its mission,
and should I, should we be concerned that TIP will change the
direction of NSF and undermine that basic research needed to
enable us to reach the goals of TIP?
Dr. Panchanathan. Very good question, Senator. Thank you
for asking that question. So if you look at some of the
programs in the TIP Directorate--let us look at SBIR/STTR
Program, the Innovation Corps, which is the entrepreneurship
program, and the Partnership For Innovation, which is also a
program that was at NSF, some of those programs that have been
focused on the translation of scientific ideas into the market
have been existent at NSF in terms of training the
entrepreneurs of the future.
What we are trying to do right now is to scale them, but on
top of that, also build a program called the Regional
Innovation Engines, and these regional innovation engines, to
be very clear, are meant to train the next generation, the
future practitioners and future researchers also, in a fused
environment of academia and industry working together. So it is
about the mission of NSF, which is about training the STEM
talent for the future and inspiring new ideas, so it is the
same mission that we are working on.
I cannot talk enough about the NSF's vision. When I came
in, I started describing it this way. It is the DNA of NSF. The
one strand of the DNA of NSF is curiosity-driven, discovery-
based exploratory research, and that is something that you
alluded to, Senator, but we also at NSF have been doing the
other strand, which is what I called use-inspired, solutions-
focused, translational research or innovations. To me, these
are highly synergistic like DNA is. Explorations make possible
translations, but translations make possible more explorations.
There are many, many examples of this, you know, including,
for example, in space exploration. You start working on the
technology for space exploration. You explore. You find new
sites, new problems to solve, and this synergy is exceedingly
important, in fact, to open up new vistas of scientific
explorations also. That is why this is exceedingly important.
The TIP Directorate, I want to make sure, is not a distraction.
It is an attraction. It is an attraction to do more in
exploratory science rather than distracting of explanation, so
that is the first thing I want to say.
The second thing I want to say is it makes possible the
kind of work that we need in States like Kansas. You and I saw
this, Senator, first time, the unbelievable work and the talent
that is there in the Johnson Community College. Let us take
that as an example. They are doing amazing work. They won the
Community College Innovation Challenge when we were there. And
when I met these students, it is very clear that if we do not
have these crucibles of innovation, we will not have the
community colleges, universities, and other researchers getting
the practitioner talent trained at the highest level of
intensity for where we need to move forward in terms of the
industries of the future.
So I am happy to elaborate more, but this is what we are
trying to do.
Senator Moran. Let me follow up with, in the absence of
what research takes place at NSF, where would the private
sector--in the absence of that research, what would we lose the
most? What does the private sector do in comparison--applied
research versus basic research--or do we need to focus public
funds?
APPLIED RESEARCH VS BASIC RESEARCH
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes, so the public funds, I think, are
mostly focused--still in NSF, the majority of the public funds
are focused and will continue to be focused on fundamental,
basic research. But as I said earlier, we are also trying to
invest so that more fundamental research can be uncovered
through the practitioner work that we do. But let us not
forget, just in the last year--let us take some examples. In
the AI institutes, in fact, the private sector has come to us
and said we will co-invest with you. Amazon invested in the
Fairness in AI Program. One of the AI institutes scaled funding
of $20 million were invested by a combination of Intel, Google,
Accenture, and Amazon. So the private sector is coming to us
and saying we will co-invest with you because our basic
research needs are something that NSF is well positioned to do.
You have a gold standard merit review process. We can work with
you to unearth more basic research that benefits all
industries, so, in fact, I would say it is an additive effect
rather than a subtractive effect.
So yesterday I was in IBM. You know, IBM is investing about
$100 million on HBCU campuses to empower them. And we were
talking about how we might collaborate with companies who have
interest in wanting to get the talent of the future and also
newer ideas that they want to work in, and they are willing to
partner with NSF. This is a new world: a new world of
partnership. So what we are also doing at the same time is, to
address your question in another way, I am developing a strong
partnership with the Department of Commerce so that their
regional technology hubs and our regional innovation engines
are tightly integrated. So the scientific prowess of what we
have, which is what makes our Nation unique, the innovation
potential that is there is able to be taken out and scaled, and
that we are able to compete now with other nations who are
starting to become more tight.
So I want us to be a lot more tightly coupled between
agencies, between the various programs, and nice handoffs, and
we have a fantastic partnership with NASA at so many levels,
and that is what we need more of. And I am a huge fan of that
because our Nation, I think, needs all the public investments
to then translate to economic prosperity, societal prosperity,
and, most importantly, every region of our Nation, and the
ideas and talent lifted up there. And we saw firsthand what is
happening in the great State of Kansas.
Senator Nelson. Senator, if I may, Dr. Panch has just
described the emphasis on public/private partnership, the ethos
that is very similar to what we are doing. It is a new day.
Government cannot do it all. You all give us X amount of money,
and we have got to make that money happen the way that we are
trying to achieve, and we can leverage that money by working
with the commercial industry and through competition, bring
those costs down to NASA.
I will give you one more example: the development of SpaceX
and their very successful rocket, the Falcon 9 and the Falcon 9
Heavy. General Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
told me last year before he retired, he said the fact that we
have competition now ongoing to space just for the military has
saved them $40 billion in launch costs. So it is just another
example of the public/private partnership. We are doing this
with regard to climate, and, of course, I will be happy to go
into examples if you would like that, Senators.
Senator Moran. Dr. Panch, my questions are not intended to
be critical but to garner an understanding of how we can more
rapidly advance--
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes.
Senator Moran [continuing]. The outcomes that we need
economically and in national security in a time in which our
adversaries have--seemingly an adversary has unlimited public
funds.
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes.
Senator Moran. How do we do this in a way that gets us to
the places that we need to be the fastest?
PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE VS COMPETING NATIONS
Dr. Panchanathan. Senator, I never look at your question as
a criticism at all. In fact, on the contrary, I look at it as,
you know, your expression of strong support. I will tell you,
to the point that you make about our competitors, our
competitors somehow, because they have a top-down approach,
they seem to force the synergy. Forced synergies will not work.
We all know that, at least not in the long term. That is what
is fantastic about our Nation. I repeat this slogan. I say
innovation anywhere, opportunities everywhere. I will keep
saying this because we have that innovation potential anywhere,
and that is why we need to bring that out by, not forced
synergies, by natural synergies of coming together, and that is
what we are doing.
How can we use the public funds in a way that inspires
every talent and idea everywhere, but at the same time, how do
we leverage, as Senator Nelson was saying, through public-
private partnerships, scale even more and scale faster? I am
anxious to scale fast because I think we are so good, but we
need to scale fast and use every bit of talent that we have in
our Nation.
Senator Moran. Absolutely. The capabilities of the United
States to advance faster, better, be safer, be more
economically secure than our adversaries comes from the
initiative, enterprise. Innovation that comes from our private
sector, that comes from private citizens.
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes.
Senator Moran. And government is a tool in which we can
enhance and speed up that process, but I will choose the
innovator over the government decision every time.
Dr. Panchanathan. You are right. I mean, innovation is
everywhere, but we have a role, I often say, Senator, if I can
say that. We have a role of catalyzing, enabling. As public
investors, that is what we are doing. The innovation is there.
All we are doing is we are trying to make it surface up. We do
not want anybody to be left behind. You know, I have met
unbelievable talent all across the Nation. I am traveling quite
a bit. Like Administrator Nelson, I am also traveling quite a
bit around the Nation, and I am so inspired. Every time I go, I
meet K to 12 students. I meet our community college students. I
meet our university students and entrepreneurs. I am really
inspired to do more, faster, better, as you said.
Senator Moran. As we would say, I adopt Dr. Panch's last
few paragraphs as my own remarks. Thank you.
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you.
Senator Moran. Let me ask, in regard to the conference
committee that is hopefully soon to meet, what is it that you
hope to see occur in USICA, or whatever the legislation
ultimately is called, that advances the cause at NSF?
IF USICA/COMPETES ACT ADVANCES
Dr. Panchanathan. Big, bold investments that take all of
the ideas that I talked about that are being left behind. And,
Senator, we saw a concrete example in our conversation at the
Johnson Community College. It is disheartening to see people
who are putting a lot of effort to take their idea with so much
hopes and aspirations, and writing a fantastic proposal,
submitting it to NSF, and getting a gold standard merit review
saying, yes, this is worthy of investment, and not having that
idea flourish is a totally missed opportunity; likewise, those
ideas that need to be, you know, inspired everywhere that
result in innovation ecosystems, you know.
For example, we talked about the States of Kansas, you
know, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, just as one example,
where they can be the crucible of the innovation for the future
of agriculture--smart agriculture--then such crucibles of
innovation that we can build all across our Nation. And I was
with John Deere the other day, just 2 weeks ago, in Illinois
visiting John Deere, and I am looking at their technological
roadmap. I am looking at what they are doing, and I am saying,
wow, you know, I never knew a tractor company has so much
technology built into this with AI, computing, and so on.
And so I think that is what we need to do more is to see
how we can build those crucibles of innovation, and to do that,
the proposals that are made in the USICA and COMPETES Acts, I
think, is the right strategy, the investment for this bold,
rapid scaling of ideas and talent. And I am really, really
hopeful, and I am very thankful for all of your support so that
we will make this happen very soon, sooner than later, because
we cannot miss any more time. This is the time.
Yesterday, my talk at IBM was the time is now. This is the
time. We need to accelerate our progress to stay far ahead of
our competition, not even look behind.
Senator Moran. Senator Shaheen, I am down to no longer any
questions, but just one comment, and that is to the NASA
Administrator. Senator Nelson, earth-observing satellites are
an essential tool for Kansas because it aids us in our
agricultural practices, and that is a hugely important
component of our State's economy. And your offer to educate me,
show me, and demonstrate to Kansans and Americans the value of
those earth-observing satellites is very much appreciated, and
I look forward to the moment in time in which we accomplish
that.
Senator Nelson. Yes, sir, and, indeed, a lot of people
think of NASA as the space agency--do not forget the first
``A,'' aeronautics. But also people do not realize NASA is the
point of the spear on climate and climate change because all
the measurements that are being made are done by instruments
that we design, build, launch, and many of them we operate. And
over the course of the next decade, we are going to have the--a
great observatory of five additional major spacecraft, that all
of this information is going to be put into a 3D composite on
precisely what is happening to the earth's climate, what is
happening to the water, to the land, to the ice, to the
atmosphere.
We are putting up at the end of this year a mission that is
going to be able to measure for the first time the elevation of
the streams, and rivers, and lakes, the freshwater. We have
been able to measure the elevation of the oceans, the salt
water. We are going to be able to find out very precisely what
is happening to the ice. And all of this, and we have the
support of the White House on this, and we hope we will have
your support. We are going to create, if you can envision in
space terms, a mission control center. It is going to be called
the Earth Information Center. It is going to bring all of this
data in, and it is going to be displayed, and it is going to be
available to everybody, not just government at all levels,
including your local county commission when they are planning
their land planning. But it is going to be available to
schools, and universities, and the private sector as well as to
what is happening and the changes that are happening to the
climate.
Senator Moran. Rainfall may be the most common topic of
conversation among my constituents on most days.
Senator Nelson. And, Senator, I just want to say on Dr.
Panch's testimony, we did not collaborate on our testimony, but
I feel like I could start a sentence and he could finish it,
and vice versa. And what he said, big, bold investments, and
that is equally applicable to NASA.
Senator Moran. Thank you.
HELIOPHYSICS AND SPACE WEATHER
Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you. We appreciate that. I do
have a few more questions actually before we close the hearing.
And I share your enthusiasm, Administrator Nelson, for this
budget, but I will admit I have a couple of concerns. One is
the one that Senator Van Hollen raised about heliophysics, and
that is based on a parochial concern because the cut has the
potential to impact the University of New Hampshire, which is
one of our Nation's premier heliophysics institutions, but also
because one of the things that heliophysics does, as you know,
is helps us to understand how our sun impacts the solar system.
And part of that is what happens with climate change, as you
were so eloquent about, and also our weather.
And I appreciate NASA's establishing the space weather as
its own program, but I wonder if you could help me understand
why the request cuts space weather more than 12 percent, and
what activities are proposed to be terminated. And one of the
things that I always remember is one of the reasons we were not
successful back when we were trying to get the Iran hostages
out was because we did not accurately understand what the
weather was going to be when we landed those helicopters, and
we saw the same thing happen when we went to get Osama bin
Laden. The weather almost undermined that mission as well. So
it is not just about our crops and what we need to do, but
there are also significant national security implications for
understanding what is happening with our weather.
So help me understand why the cut, and how the decision to
reduce funding for heliophysics was made.
Senator Nelson. I do have, in my previous life, some
credentials in this area because there is an instrument up
there called Discover. It was terminated in politics in a
previous administration because it had been proposed by a
former Vice President of the United States.
Senator Shaheen. Yes, I remember that.
Senator Nelson. And yours truly had the opportunity to get
some more--fortunately, NASA had the good sense to keep it in
mothballs. And then, lo and behold, the Department of Defense
had a reason for wanting to get it up to give us a quick alert
on a solar explosion and all that radiation, and so it is out
there, a million miles. This is now called Discover, and it
warns us of the solar radiation that is coming so that we can
determine, our satellites as well as our ground stations, when
that solar explosion is coming at us.
University of New Hampshire, you are right, is a leader in
the field of heliophysics. The decrease in the Space Weather
Program, which was $2.7 million, or, as you stated, 12 percent,
is due to a ramp down in the spending on space weather
monitoring on an instrument called HERMES, which stands for
Heliophysics Environmental And Radiation Measurement Experiment
Suite, and will complete its integration and test this coming
December. Now, there were a bunch of things going on in
science. This was the decision since every now and then we get
arbitrary amounts that are handed to us, and scientific
decisions had to be made, but there is also a truth that the
President proposes and the Congress disposes.
PROJECT COST OVERRUNS
Senator Shaheen. Okay. I appreciate that response. The
other concern that I want to raise is a report from the GAO
because, at the direction of this Committee, the Government
Accountability Office analyzes the cost and scheduled
performance of major NASA projects. And I do not think this is
a problem of your leadership or even your predecessor's
leadership. It is a long-term problem at NASA. What the GAO
found was that NASA projects are experiencing the largest
collective cost and schedule overruns since they began
reporting in 2009. The overruns cannot be attributed to COVID
alone. Many projects had late-stage design changes that led to
costly modifications and schedule slippage, and the collective
budget pressure is delaying launch dates and squeezing out
newer projects.
So can you help us understand what you are working on to
improve this project management, and do you see improvement
anytime soon in our ability to manage those big projects?
Senator Nelson. Madam Chair, there better be, and you are
exactly right. There is no excuse for cost overruns, but the
old way of doing things was always cost-plus.
Senator Shaheen. Mm-hmm.
Senator Nelson. And because of the competition that we have
been talking about, we have been moving to the fixed price,
where we can, under procurement law. In those that we cannot do
cost-plus, we are moving to really crack down on them. I want
to give you an example because Bechtel underbid on a cost-plus
contract in order to, what appears, to get the next mobile
launcher for the larger version of the SLS. The larger version
has an enhanced upper stage that will carry more payload,
including the gateway, which is like the mini space station
that will be in lunar orbit. And they underbid it, and then
they could not perform, and NASA is stuck.
And what I have done is I have called in the CEO of
Bechtel, who, by the way, is the grandson of the founder. His
name is Bechtel. And they have readily acknowledged it, but
there is no way under the contract, since it is a cost-plus
contract, that we can do anything but eat it, and that is not
right. And times are a-changing, and so what I have done
specifically, other than jawboning and giving a lecture to all
of our managers about tightening up on all of this, and,
particularly, going forward, I have specifically named the
deputy administrator, Colonel Pam Melroy, an astronaut
commander, to serve as the Agency's chief acquisition officer
to elevate the importance of acquisition.
We are working closely with GAO and our inspector general
at NASA on the recommendations. I think we are beginning to
make some progress in closing out the GAO recommendations
related to strengthening this acquisition process. We are
committed to improving our management of our cost and our
schedule commitments. And I have also established a new chief
program management officer dedicated to strengthening NASA's
oversight of its enterprise, of its management, and of its
program management policies. Under the law, that is what I can
do, and going forward, if we take this competition seriously,
we are going to be able to do a lot more cost-plus contracts
well.
Senator Shaheen. Well, thank you. I appreciate that
explanation, and it sounds like progress. Obviously we will
want to continue to stay in touch with what you are seeing and
what we can do to be helpful as you look at whether you need
any new authorities to address what is happening. My final
question, Dr. Panch, is for you because, in addition to space,
which is really a new frontier not just for research,
unfortunately, for our security, so is that the Arctic is a new
frontier--
Dr. Panchanathan. Yes.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. Both for research and for our
national security.
Dr. Panchanathan Yes.
Senator Shaheen. And as we look at the inroads that some of
our competitors are making in the Arctic, it raises serious
concerns about what we should be doing there. So can you
describe NSF's plans for expanding Arctic research and how you
see that rolling out?
ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC RESEARCH
Dr. Panchanathan. Senator, thank you so much for the
interest. Cleary, you know, the Arctic and Antarctic are of
great interest to NSF, and we have a lot of work that we invest
in, in both the Arctic and Antarctic. As you know, in the
Arctic case, we also, you know, look at the North Atlantic as a
huge partnership, not only what we do within the Nation but
also with our partners in Europe, Canada, and others. So this
is critical for economic as well as security in making sure
that we are building resilience into the future.
And so one of the things that we are doing is, you would be
happy to know that we are working closely with the Arctic
communities because we need to make sure that we are including
them in the conversations. And so increasingly, NSF is very
sensitive to the idea of making sure that our Arctic colleagues
living in the Arctic are, you know, party to conversations, and
that is why you will find that we are taking a social/
behavioral, not just a scientific approach only, a social/
behavioral humanistic approach in terms of how we are devising
the future for the Arctic. So clearly, there is an investment
area that NSF has always made, and we plan to continue to do
that.
And I am very pleased to say that it is not just, you know,
in a few States. You know, many States across the Nation
participate in this, all the way ranging from Alaska to New
Hampshire, and so we expect that this will continue into the
future, and that is the way I see it.
Senator Shaheen. Well, good. Thank you very much. Are you
all set, Senator Moran?
Senator Moran. Yes.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
Senator Shaheen. Let me just point out that if there are no
further questions, Senators have until May 10 to submit
additional questions to the subcommittee's official hearing
record, and we request that NASA and NSF respond within 30 days
to any questions that you might receive.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration for response subsequent to the hearing:]
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN
Questions Submitted to Administrator Bill Nelson, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration
Question 1. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
(SOFIA) was scheduled for termination again this year, following
several previous years in which NASA has recommended eliminating its
budget. I understand that this is based on the recommendation of many
astronomers and astrophysicists, but I do want to note that the SOFIA
program has made several key discoveries during its life, including
confirming the presence of water ice on the Moon, which is now of key
interest for the Artemis program. SOFIA also discovered the presence of
helium hydride in interstellar space, which was first theorized in the
1970s.
Now that the program is slated for termination in October, I am
concerned that scientists who have relied on SOFIA do not have
sufficient time to close out their research. This is even more critical
since there are no alternatives to SOFIA's observational capabilities.
Additionally, Administrator Nelson described in the hearing with the
Appropriations Committee how critical it was that the DSCOVR project
was put into storage and was able to launch once interest in its
capabilities revived. Administrator Nelson, will all remaining accepted
science proposals using the SOFIA instrument be completed by the
termination of activities? If not, what support does NASA require in
order to ensure that those planned flights occur?
Answer. SOFIA will conclude its science operations at the end of
September 2022. During fiscal year 2022, SOFIA will continue to carry
out a full program of science operations that has included multiple
deployments to the southern hemisphere. As of June 5, 2022, SOFIA has
54 science flights planned for the remainder of fiscal year 2022, which
includes 32 flights for its annual deployment to New Zealand during
June-August 2022 and an additional 18 flights from Palmdale,
California, in September 2022. During fiscal year 2022, SOFIA is
prioritizing the completion of legacy surveys to establish an enduring
archive of data for community use. Most selected proposals from Cycle 9
will be completed; however, some selected proposals will not be
conducted due to scheduling conflicts. With the remaining planned 54
flights, 80 percent or more of Cycle 9 programs are expected to be
complete before the end of fiscal year 2022, which will be the highest
completion rate achieved for any cycle over the lifetime of the SOFIA
project. Of the nine multiple-cycle SOFIA legacy programs, four legacy
programs and two pilot legacy programs are anticipated to be fully
completed, while the majority of the remaining two legacy programs and
one pilot legacy will be completed. In addition to completing U.S.
programs, SOFIA is ensuring that our German partners are also able to
complete their programs.
The SOFIA project is developing a project closeout plan for fiscal
year 2023. That plan will include completion of data reduction and
archiving; training of personnel at the Infrared Science Archive
(IRSA), where all the SOFIA science and (housekeeping) observatory data
will reside; user support for completed Cycle 9 observations;
documentation and tools on how to use or reprocess SOFIA observations;
and general observer funding for completed observations.
Question 2. Administrator Nelson, can you describe the plan for the
SOFIA aircraft and telescope? Has NASA looked at the possibility of
keeping the technology like it did with DSCOVR?
Answer. The SOFIA project is developing an orderly project closeout
plan for fiscal year 2023. As a part of that closeout plan, SOFIA will
follow the standard NASA disposition process. As a part of that
process, NASA will determine if any part of the SOFIA mission, such as
one or more of its instruments, may be used in support of another NASA
or other Federal agency mission, and, if so, will be dispensed in
support of that mission. The SOFIA telescope is the property of the
German Space Agency (DLR), and discussions are underway with DLR as to
how they would like to proceed.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Brian Schatz
Question 1. The United States is a leader in both ground- and
space-based astronomy due to six decades of sustained commitment to
develop, fund, and operate cutting edge instruments. In spite of this
long-standing history, there is no funding in either NSF's or NASA's
fiscal year 2023 budget to begin implementation of any of the
recommendations in the decadal survey of astronomical science,
Astro2020.
A. Please explain the absence of implementation funding in
either the NASA or the NSF budget.
B. Does the lack of implementation funding signal that the
Administration intends to pivot away from our nation's six-
decade commitment to astronomy? If the Administration is
turning away from astronomical science, please explain why.
C. If not, why is there no mention of either ground- or
space- based priorities in its budget request?
D. If the Committee were to provide near-term funding to
start implementation of Astro2020, may I have your commitment
that you begin as soon as the funds become available?
Answer. The Administration is not turning away from astronomy as
evidenced by NASA's fiscal year 2023 budget request. NASA's fiscal year
2023 budget request includes funding for space-based astronomy. This
request for NASA Astrophysics proposes a program balanced between
realizing the science of the world's greatest portfolio of space
telescopes (including increased funding for realizing the science from
the Webb Space Telescope and operation of the newly launched IXPE) and
completing and launching missions under development (including the
Roman Space Telescope, SPHEREx, and the newly selected COSI). Due to
the delay in the publication of the Decadal Survey, NASA had limited
time to incorporate Decadal Survey recommendations into the fiscal year
2023 Budget Request. The fiscal year 2024 budget request will be fully
informed by the Decadal Survey recommendations.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Joe Manchin
Question 1. I'm looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks May
15th for the Robotics Championship at Fairmont University.
Last year, I spoke to you about the importance of NASA's IV&V
Facility, which is proudly named after the incredible Katherine Johnson
and just down the road from Fairmont State.
Through their work in communities across the state, staff at the
IV&V Program have done an incredible job educating the next generation
of West Virginians. Over the last year, they engaged over 8,000
students in student workshops, STEM competitions, events, and hands-on
activities. The IV&V Program has also trained 200 teachers in educator
workshops which will have far reaching, and continuing, impacts to the
students of West Virginia.
West Virginians have played a key role in our nation's developments
and achievements in space, from the contributions of `Hidden Figures'
like Katherine Johnson and `Rocket Boys' like Homer Hickam. We need to
make sure we are seeking out the next generation of these rural
students.
A. What are you doing to use the resources of NASA to help
reach the next generation of rural students?
Answer. NASA is focused on broadening student participation, which
includes reaching students in rural areas. Here are a few examples of
these efforts:
NASA CONNECTS is a community of practice for K-12 teachers, aimed
to reach teachers through a virtual platform and enable increased
accessibility to NASA learning opportunities and resources for them and
their students. NASA CONNECTS is reaching students where they are.
NASA has also established the TEAM II Community Anchors, now in its
first year, to include small-medium sized informal education
institutions in providing more direct access to NASA experts and
resources. TEAM II investments in science centers, museums, and other
informal education organizations, have yielded programs and resources
that are focused on reaching underserved and underrepresented students
including those in rural areas.
In December 2021, NASA selected a group of 21 diverse projects,
called Community Anchors, from museums, science centers, library
systems, and other informal education organizations across the country.
Designation as a Community Anchor recognizes an institution as a local
community resource, allowing access to rural areas. These 21 projects
are bringing space exploration to traditionally underserved areas and
broaden student participation in STEM fields.
In January 2022, NASA's Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums, and
Informal Institutions (TEAM II) program selected three informal
education organizations to help inspire the next generation of
explorers through STEM learning--and to expand student participation in
STEM, including rural communities. One of the selected institutions,
Franklin County Historical Society, Ohio, created the NASA Learning
Lunchbox, with the goal of feeding STEM diversity and serving
underserved youth across the Nation, including in rural areas. The
Center of Science and Industry (COSI) distributed 30,000 kits at local
food banks across the United States. In fact, NASA Learning Lunchboxes
were sent to Wheeling, West Virginia. A West Virginia news article
features this website, with the following quote: ``This unprecedented
effort has already reached all corners of Ohio, Tennessee, West
Virginia, Kentucky, and more, while bringing together over 400+
partners to help address the education needs.''
In NASA's Sparking Participation and Real-world eXperiences in STEM
(SPARX) program, K-12 students participate in challenges, competitions,
and hands-on activities at after-school programs. NASA SPARX is a Next
Gen STEM pilot initiative that aims to broaden student participation in
Agency STEM opportunities with a focus on underserved and
underrepresented communities, including rural areas.
Question 2. The bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act,
which passed the Senate in June last year, authorizes $10 billion for
NASA to choose another company to compete for the Human Landing System
within the Artemis program to land astronauts on the Moon.
Some are arguing that locking in competition for this system will
ensure long-term cost savings, while redundancy will ensure that we're
not relying on foreign companies to take us to the Moon. Others argue
this is a bailout for rich billionaires like Jeff Bezos.
We're likely going to have a vote today on this provision.
A. What do you view as the importance of having a second
Human Landing System?
Answer. Per NASA's mission schedule for the Artemis program, the
Human Landing System (HLS) will be employed for the first crewed lunar
landing in 2025, and the second Artemis crewed lunar landing is planned
as soon as 2027. SpaceX's Starship-based HLS will be employed for the
2025 landing. In fiscal year 2023, NASA plans to enlist a second HLS
development contractor for subsequent crewed lunar landings, and this
approach is important to maximize the likelihood of satisfying the
overall Artemis schedule and to avoid potentially costly impacts that
an HLS delay would create for other elements of the Artemis
architecture (e.g. the Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, Gateway,
EVA spacesuits, etc.) that also support crewed lunar missions.
B. What role do redundancies play in the safety and security
of our astronauts and missions?
Answer. As a tool to ensure mission success and crew safety,
redundancy may be applied to individual components, such as backup
computers, or to larger elements, such as complete spacecraft. This can
be done using the same or different designs that can perform the same
function. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, and the ideal
case allows both to be implemented as appropriate. Space exploration
programs, by their nature, expand the limits of our capabilities.
Because space exploration programs operate at the edge of our
experience base, we must address the potential for problems, including
the use of backup designs and suppliers. The Commercial Crew Program
faced a similar challenge, which was addressed by contracting with both
Boeing and SpaceX. This resulted in one of the vendors successfully
providing crew transportation to the ISS even when the other vendor had
technical problems that delayed their capability. This freed the United
States from dependency on Russian services years sooner than might have
occurred.
As the first human rated lunar landers to be built in over 60
years, the Human Landing Systems will need to address the highest risks
in the Artemis program. The SpaceX design is highly innovative and
offers the potential for outstanding performance, and it will need to
demonstrate equitable levels of safety to validate its performance
prior to crewed missions. While NASA has much confidence in the SpaceX
team and their design, good program management practices encourage
including additional suppliers and designs when practical.
Question 3. West Virginia benefits from a program called EPSCoR
that is designed to allow states that are underrepresented in Federal
research projects, including those at NASA and NSF, to participate in
research. Because of this program, West Virginia researchers have
received funds to investigate the effects of solar activity and space
weather on Earth and its magnetic field, played a role in building an
autonomous rover for Mars exploration, and created 3D printed materials
and devices suitable for space usage. It's clear that Federal research
funding has economic and quality of life implications for our states
and communities.
Unfortunately, that Federal research funding is not widely
distributed. The 25 EPSCoR states and jurisdictions, including WV,
receive just 10.15 percent of NSF research funding. In contrast, the
top five states that receive the most NSF grants account for nearly 40
percent of the total. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA)
includes a provision that would set aside 20 percent of NSF and
Department of Energy research funding for the 28 EPSCoR states that are
underserved by research funds.
A. Administrator, can you speak to the importance of this
program and can we work together to ensure that future budget
requests for the NASA EPSCoR program are more robustly funded?
B. Administrator, West Virginia researchers have told me
that they benefited from a NASA program called the Technical
Interchange Meeting (TIM), but NASA recently made changes to
the programs so that it is less research-focused. Can we work
together to ensure that the research needs of EPSCoR states
like mine can continue?
Answer. A. NASA's EPSCoR program continues to provide sustained
support to jurisdictions and their institutions through a broad set of
competitive research opportunities to build research capacity within
the underrepresented (EPSCoR) states. This accountability entails close
partnership and effective collaboration with the NASA Mission
Directorates. Additionally, the fiscal year 2023 budget request
accelerates NASA efforts related to K-12 partnerships, and broadening
student participation, which supports the Administration's initiatives.
NASA EPSCoR's contribution to these goals is more indirect and can be
sustained with the fiscal year 2023 budget request as submitted.
Answer. B. In the past, the EPSCoR Technical Interchange Meeting
(TIM) was a stand-alone EPSCoR-only meeting that took place at a NASA
Center. EPSCoR would conduct a meeting between the 28 EPSCoR
jurisdiction researchers and researchers at the host Center to discuss
possible collaborations on EPSCoR-funded research within the
jurisdiction. Now that NASA OSTEM has moved to an enterprise approach,
which involves integrating operations across geographic locations to
allow for an optimum service delivery approach to meet mission needs,
the need to create even broader connections has been paramount. Thus,
the term ``TIM'' was dropped, and the activity was integrated into a
larger meeting called ``Better Together,'' which incorporates more than
just research discussions for a wider audience. The purpose of ``Better
Together'' is to strengthen grantee and stakeholder relationships with
OSTEM and NASA missions, integrate across projects, network, exchange
ideas, and establish new connections. The EPSCoR discussions are now a
smaller part of this larger meeting involving all four of the OSTEM
enterprise projects. Although other audiences such as K-12,
internships, broadening student participation, etc. are addressed at
the ``Better Together'' meeting, EPSCoR is given time for their
jurisdiction researchers, along with MUREP and Space Grant researchers,
to meet with NASA researchers to discuss possible collaborations.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Van Hollen
Question 1. Maryland's Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the
largest group of Earth Scientists in the world and to programs like
Landsat, the longest continuous space-based record of Earth's land in
existence, and the PACE mission, which is set to launch in 2024 and
will advance data on our ocean health and study long-term climate
trends.
How will the Administration continue to strategically bolster
NASA's role in our national response to climate change?
Answer. The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget Request for NASA
invests $2.4 billion in Earth-observing satellites and related research
to improve the Nation's understanding of climate change. The fiscal
year 2023 budget request will enable NASA to continue to provide the
world with climate data from its existing fleet of Earth observing
satellites and will expand its role as a leading provider of satellite
Earth observations by investing in the next generation of missions to
monitor changes taking place on Earth. The future Earth System
Observatory (ESO) will comprise five missions that will enable
scientists to generate a 3D, holistic view of the entire planet and to
better understand, measure, and model the nature of the Earth's
climatic changes. The data from the ESO will also assist with the
evaluation of scenarios and policy options for how society might
respond to climate change. NASA will augment the core of the ESO with a
new class of mission, the Earth System Explorers (ESE), to make
additional high-priority observations, potentially including greenhouse
gases, and encourage innovative solutions through competitive mission
selection.
NASA also continues to advance technology for new measurement
capabilities that can make possible future generations of airborne and
satellite-based measurements of greenhouse gases. The fiscal year 2023
President's Budget Request for NASA includes funding is included to
advance the development and testing of new technologies for space-based
greenhouse gas measurements. These technologies will enable NASA to
improve measurements of carbon dioxide and methane fluxes and trends as
well as global and regional quantification of point sources and
identification of source types.
NASA makes its data, including climate data, freely available to
ensure anyone can access it for use in research or to inform policies
and actions to address the threat climate change poses to economic
prosperity and national security. In addition, NASA trains and works
with hundreds of partners through our Applied Sciences program to
leverage and maximize Earth science data for societal benefit. As part
of a renewed emphasis on providing actionable data and information to a
broad range of users, NASA is planning a new Earth Information Center
(EIC) with an initial focus on prototyping capabilities for a
greenhouse gas monitoring and information system that will integrate
data from a variety of sources. A key goal of the EIC will be to make
its data more accessible and usable to Federal, State, and local
governments; researchers; the public; and other users.
The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget Request for NASA also
invests more than $500 million of the $972 million Aeronautics request
to reduce the climate impacts of the aviation industry, which includes
the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, through which NASA and
U.S. companies will develop and fly a highly efficient, next-generation
airline prototype as early as 2026, and support the global aviation
community's aggressive goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. NASA
Aeronautics is investing in cost-sharing partnerships with U.S.
industry under the Sustainable Flight National Partnership to research
and demonstrate high risk, high payoff technology advancements that
will enable entry into service in the early 2030s of next-generation
single-aisle aircraft that are 25-30 percent more energy efficient with
the capacity to utilize 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel and fly
optimal trajectories. NASA Aeronautics will invest in a focused set of
major technology demonstrations by NASA with industry, including a
first-ever high-power megawatt-class electrified powertrain for large
transport aircraft propulsion, advanced high-efficiency airframes,
advanced composite structures produced four to six times faster than
the current state of the art, and advanced small core engine
technologies based on breakthrough NASA innovations. NASA Aeronautics,
in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines,
will pioneer new air traffic management automation tools to safely and
reliably put future aircraft on flight paths optimized for minimal
environmental impact; the next evolution of air traffic management will
safely increase operational efficiency at the vehicle, fleet, and
system-wide levels. Finally, NASA Aeronautics is working with our
nation's universities to pioneer next-generation technologies for a
zero-emissions aviation future through the highly successful University
Leadership Initiative.
Question 2. Hardware and service costs have increased substantially
due to supply chain constraints and logistics impacts because of the
situation in Ukraine and the long-term impacts from COVID-19.
How is NASA planning for and responding to the budget impacts of
these events?
Answer. NASA has on-going efforts underway to assess all of the
areas cited by the question:
COVID-19 has impacted NASA projects in multiple ways. In the early
stages of the pandemic, NASA projects were impacted by facility
shutdowns, restarts, and reduced on-site access due to social
distancing and cleaning protocols; and interruptions to test and
construction efforts. In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Public Law 116-136),
which included $60 million for NASA to help address these immediate
impacts and support continued Agency operations. As the pandemic
evolved, NASA projects already underway deployed cost and schedule
reserves to address increases and delays caused by workforce
availability issues at contractor sites, supply chain disruptions, and
travel limitations which hindered plans for international cooperation.
NASA has used existing risk management systems and tools to track
evolving impacts and develop project-specific mitigation strategies.
During COVID-19, NASA takes these risks and mitigation strategies into
account when establishing Agency baseline cost and schedule commitments
for projects transitioning from formulation to implementation. NASA
also takes into account COVID-19 related impacts during project replans
and rebaselinings.
To date, NASA has notified Congress of nine projects across the
Agency that have experienced cost and schedule growth due in part to
COVID-19 pressures. These projects include the Roman Space Telescope,
James Webb Space Telescope, Geostationary Carbon Observatory (GeoCarb),
Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), the NASA-Indian Space
Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), the Orion
exploration crew vehicle, the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and
Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) and Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technology
demonstration missions, and the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD).
Supply chains are another area of impact. Impacts include
significantly reduced availability of materials and services, delays in
products delivery, schedule slips, and increased cost of materials,
resources, and products. Systematically building and maintaining
visibility into the supply chains for mission programs and projects is
the basis for Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) supporting
situational awareness, planning, risk analysis and informed
decisionmaking at project and enterprise levels. NASA's Office of
Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) SCRM program launched the NASA
Supply Chain Insight Central (SCIC) information and analysis services
platform for operational use in March 2021 to collaboratively build
integrated, collective visibility and insight into the supply chains of
NASA programs/projects:
--OSMA collaboration with Agency functions is ongoing to further
develop and implement SCIC capabilities and services to address
key SCRM and industrial base challenges.
--OSMA has identified, as a key priority of the SCIC initiative, the
formulation of NASA policy and requirements for supply chain
visibility reporting to enable SCRM, which is currently
underway in collaboration with the NASA Office of Procurement.
The OSMA SCRM program and its SCIC initiative is also supporting
the Agency's partnership with the Department of Commerce to conduct a
US. Civil Space Industrial Base survey, which is expected to
substantially boost the Agency's insight into current and potential
suppliers and their operating conditions.
NASA also collaborates with key USG space partners in the DOD and
national security community on supply chain risks and vulnerabilities.
Relative to specific impacts of Russia's war on Ukraine, it has had
limited impacts on NASA's programs. Impacts have largely been mitigated
by having had on-hand forward purchases or through securing alternate
U.S. suppliers. The issue of overall economic instability, in
particular rising interest rates, are being monitored.
Question 3. Decadal Surveys from the National Academies have been
``the gold standard'' for NASA to conduct high priority scientific
missions. With the release of Astro2020, the astronomy and astrophysics
Decadal Survey, does NASA intend to continue to follow the guidance of
the Decadal Survey?
Answer. NASA recognizes that decadal surveys are the ``gold
standard'' for recommending prioritized science programs.
Implementation of Decadal Survey recommendations is modified to reflect
existing budgets, particularly when funding for new missions is
different from that assumed in the Decadal Surveys. Specific to the
Astro2020 Decadal Survey, implementation of recommendations will also
depend on the progress of necessary technology maturation.
Ahead of and following release of the 2020 Decadal Survey, NASA has
been developing the strategy and road mapping plans for implementing
Decadal Survey recommendations. The fiscal year 2023 budget request
includes realistic precursor science and technology plans that are the
first steps in an executable plan for the NASA's future astrophysics
mission portfolio. The Decadal Survey recommends a deliberate approach
to beginning future great observatories. NASA is pursuing the
recommendations based on the timelines and opportunities outlined in
the report.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator John Kennedy
Question 1. I understand you made a visit to the Michoud Assembly
Facility this past December. Michoud has weathered multiple hurricanes
over the years, most recently Hurricane Ida. NASA's fiscal year 2023
Budget Request includes $424 million for ``Construction and
Environmental Compliance and Restoration.'' Is this amount sufficient
to ensure Michoud is working on schedule and what is the status of the
damage repairs?
Answer. The ongoing fabrication and assembly of NASA's Space Launch
System flight hardware at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is
critical to the success of the Artemis program. To ensure timely
completion of this hardware, NASA has been repairing and upgrading the
critical infrastructure at MAF over the last several years through
Construction of Facilities projects funded within the Construction and
Environmental Compliance and Restoration appropriation (CECR), and
through the fiscal year 2022 Emergency Supplemental Appropriation to
repair damage caused by hurricanes Ida and Zeta.
NASA's fiscal year 2023 CECR budget request includes funding for
three (3) repair projects at MAF. These are:
--Building 110/114 Critical Cranes Repairs;
--Building 110/114 Fire Suppression Upgrades; and,
--Steam Systems Upgrades, Phase 2 of 2.
The execution of the NASA fiscal year 2022 Emergency Supplemental
Appropriation to repair damage caused by hurricanes Ida and Zeta is
ongoing. NASA is continuing discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to execute all major roof repairs at MAF (B103, B220, B320
and B420). It is anticipated that an agreement will be finalized within
Q4, with roof repair contract awards following immediately thereafter.
Additionally, NASA is continuing execution of several minor repair
projects using available local contracting mechanisms. To date
approximately $20 million has been obligated for these various repair
efforts.
The current pace of funding is sufficient to ensure that MAF is
working on schedule and sufficient to maintain the Artemis schedule.
Question 2. Currently, the SLS Heavy Lift Rocket for Artemis
missions is being tested so that astronauts may return to the moon.
Beyond the planned Artemis crew missions, what specifically will be the
role for the SLS in the next decade? Will SLS be used for cargo-only
missions in support of staying on the moon, or our journey to Mars, or
to launch important science missions?
Answer. As noted previously, the Agency is in the process of
transitioning integrated management of SLS to industry by establishing
an Exploration Production and Operations Contract (EPOC) contract. EPOC
will enable industry to make the SLS available as a cargo vehicle for
other uses, such as commercial, DOD, and science--where relevant
capability is needed, and it is cost effective.
NASA believes that SLS is a national asset, and transition of SLS
Exploration Production and Operations to industry--so that industry can
reduce the rocket's production and operations costs--is the quickest
and most cost-effective way to enhance its use.
Question 3. Administrator Nelson, Louisiana benefits from a program
called EPSCoR that is designed to increase research capacity in states
that are underrepresented in Federal research projects, including those
at NASA. I am concerned that the Office of STEM Engagement's mission
and goals don't align well with the research focus of this program.
Will you work with me to find a better home for this research program
within the agency?
Answer. NASA's Office of STEM Engagement is accountable for the
Agency's STEM engagement function, providing strategic guidance,
integration, and operational oversight of a portfolio of efforts to
support students, educators, and educational institutions, as well as
management of the appropriated STEM engagement program. This
accountability entails close partnership and effective collaboration
with the NASA Mission Directorates.
NASA EPSCoR is fully aligned with the Agency's STEM engagement
strategy and organizationally is positioned in the Office of STEM
Engagement for cross-cutting research efforts and direct contributions
to Mission Directorate needs and priorities. This is accomplished
through an effective structure with established liaisons with Mission
Directorate and Center technical organizations. These liaisons
establish requirements for EPSCoR solicitations, review proposals and
provide support and active engagement throughout the life cycle of the
various EPSCoR activities. NASA EPSCoR ensures that all Mission
Directorate needs are represented through the set of solicitations each
year and works with technical organizations effectively to drive
results that are of value to both NASA and the EPSCoR jurisdictions.
Question 4. In looking over your fiscal year 23 budget request for
the Office of STEM Engagement, can you explain why the allocation for
NASA EPSCoR remained flat? This is a very important program for my
state to build research capacity in areas vital to NASA's mission, and
I am concerned that it is not being prioritized enough in your budget.
Answer. NASA EPSCoR continues to provide sustained support to
jurisdictions and their research institutions through a broad set of
competitive research opportunities. Additionally, the fiscal year 2023
budget request accelerates NASA efforts related to K-12, partnerships,
and broadening student participation, which supports the
Administration's initiatives. NASA EPSCoR's contribution to these goals
is more indirect, and can be sustained with the fiscal year 2023 budget
request, as submitted.
_______________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN
Questions Submitted to Hon. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director, National
Science Foundation
Question 1. Support for astronomy research has long been divided
between NASA and NSF, with NASA supporting space-based telescopes, and
NSF supporting ground-based telescopes. Traditionally, NSF has relied
heavily on significant private investment in ground-based astronomy.
Astronomy remains one of the few scientific disciplines with no
associated NSF-funded research center. Director Panchanathan, with the
increasing scale and cost of ground-based telescopes putting this
research outside of the scope for anyone but national governments, what
is your plan for research investments?
Answer. The NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) currently
manages four federally Funded Research and Development Centers
(FFRDCs): NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory
(NOIRLab), the National Solar Observatory (NSO), the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Green Bank Observatory (GBO). These
FFRDCs operate observing facilities, build instrumentation, and develop
data analysis pipelines and archives, while also serving as focal
points for organizing and engaging the U.S. nighttime optical, solar,
and radio communities. These centers play essential roles to build
collaborations and partnerships with universities, not-for-profit
private entities, other U.S. government agencies, and international
institutions that enable NSF to undertake projects of increasing scale
and complexity. Significant examples include the International Gemini
Observatory (an international partnership managed by NSF as part of
NOIRLab), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA, an
international partnership in which NRAO represents the U.S. interests),
and the soon-to-be commissioned Rubin Observatory (an inter-agency
partnership with the Department of Energy, which will be part of
NOIRLab as it transitions into operations). Such partnerships, along
with those with private entities such as Keck, Simons, Moore, and other
foundations, form a key component of NSF's strategy to undertake the
next generation of optical and radio facilities, and our FFRDCs will
continue to play a central role in building and maintaining these
relationships.
Question 2. The NSF recently launched its Technology, Innovation,
and Partnership (TIP) Directorate, which is focused on supporting
critical technologies, workforce development, and the translation of
basic research for commercial goals. These goals are certainly
laudable, but these goals should be in addition to NSF's existing
activities and not result in decreases to basic science research
funding. Director Panchanathan, will you ensure that basic science
research does not receive decreased funding or support in order to
support the TIP Directorate?
Answer. NSF will continue to support the full spectrum of
fundamental research, from foundational, curiosity-driven, discovery-
oriented research to use-inspired, solutions-oriented research.
Building on NSF's longstanding leadership in science and engineering
research and education, TIP serves as a crosscutting platform and
collaborates with NSF's other directorates and offices to leverage,
energize, and rapidly advance use-inspired, solutions-oriented research
and innovation in critical and emerging technologies and industries.
NSF has long invested in use-inspired research and the translation of
research results into practice through a wide range of programs.
NSF is taking a balanced approach between its existing directorates
that support basic research and TIP in the fiscal year 2023 President's
Budget Request. The request calls for an increase of $1.64 billion for
the Research and Related Activities and STEM Education Accounts over
fiscal year 2022 Enacted, around $430 million would go to TIP as part
of the directorate's initial ``start-up,'' and $1.21 billion would go
to the other research directorates and offices. It will be critically
important for TIP to work closely and collaboratively with all the
other NSF directorates and offices to identify specific areas ripe for
co-investment.
Increased funding for TIP is contingent upon Congressional
appropriations, and NSF greatly appreciates the continued strong
bipartisan support for the agency.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Brian Schatz
Question 1. The United States is a leader in both ground- and
space-based astronomy due to six decades of sustained commitment to
develop, fund, and operate cutting edge instruments. In spite of this
long-standing history, there is no funding in either NSF's or NASA's
fiscal year 2023 budget to begin implementation of any of the
recommendations in the decadal survey of astronomical science,
Astro2020.
A. Please explain the absence of implementation funding in
either the NASA or the NSF budget.
Answer. The delay of the Decadal Survey due to COVID resulted in
the committee recommendations (released in November 2021) arriving well
after the agencies' development of the fiscal year 2023 budget request
and shortly before iterations with OMB. NSF has opened discussions with
the projects prioritized in the Astro2020 report and is working with
them to understand their needs, which have evolved significantly since
their presentations to the Astro2020 committees in late fiscal year
2019. NSF is exploring ways to provide critical funding support for
further design and development activities that respond to the highest
priority recommendations from Astro2020. Any future facilities
ultimately represent significant investments by the U.S. taxpayer,
requiring detailed planning and review through the well-developed Major
Facility processes at NSF, which are designed to ensure the success of
such large projects and to secure return on those investments.
B. Does the lack of implementation funding signal that the
Administration intends to pivot away from our nation's six-
decade commitment to astronomy? If the Administration is
turning away from astronomical science, please explain why.
Answer. NSF remains committed to the continued support of astronomy
and is developing a broad and thoughtful response to Astro2020,
including evaluation of the recommended next- generation facilities as
well as planning for the recommended investments in other areas
highlighted as critical to ensuring a healthy and vibrant U.S.
astronomical community. The facilities discussed in the Decadal Survey,
both those NSF currently operates and potential future telescopes, form
a system of research infrastructure across many scales that will
continue U.S. leadership in the key fields of astronomy and
astrophysics (e.g., radio, optical, gravitational waves) and provide
scientific data to thousands of scientists across the U.S. The
democratization of science--allowing researchers from many different
states, universities, and institutes to participate in world-leading
research activities--has been an enormous strength of the U.S.
scientific environment. NSF will continue this tradition through a
balanced portfolio that provides support for members of the research
community coupled with open access to the advanced tools and datasets
that they need to do world-leading science such as that prioritized in
Astro2020.
C. If not, why is there no mention of either ground- or
space- based priorities in its budget request?
Answer. The unfortunate timing of the release of Astro2020 did not
provide NSF sufficient lead time to incorporate specific initiatives in
the fiscal year 2023 budget request. The request does, however,
highlight the roles of two of NSF's federally Funded Research and
Development Centers (FFRDCs) - the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO) and NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Laboratory
(NOIRLab) - inleading development efforts for the next generation
facilities prioritized by Astro2020 and in supporting the broad
scientific priorities described in the report. Of note is the ramp up
in operations funding for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which was
highlighted as an ongoing priority in the Astro2020 report.
D. If the Committee were to provide near-term funding to
start implementation of Astro2020, may I have your commitment
that you begin as soon as the funds become available?
Answer. NSF greatly appreciates your support of its mission and
specifically the support for continued leadership in the astronomical
sciences. NSF has requested funding for Astronomy in the President's
fiscal year 2023 budget that is sufficient to advance high priority
activities identified in Astro2020, projects in which we have already
invested almost $100 million for development. Of course, allocation and
award of the funding will rely upon our thorough review processes to
ensure that the investments are made in a fiscally sound manner and
will result in the best science opportunities for the U.S. community.
Question 2. The US Extremely Large Telescope Consortium and its
counterpart in radio astronomy have submitted development proposals to
the NSF in recent weeks.
A. What is the schedule to begin the review of these
proposals?
Answer. In general NSF neither publicly acknowledges the receipt of
nor comments on review of proposals. However, we can assure you that we
are communicating and coordinating with the projects prioritized in the
Astro2020 report to understand their near-term needs. NSF strives to
process all proposal requests in a timely manner.
B. If they are deemed meritorious, will the NSF fund them
with the considerable balances in the Agency's research
account, or from unobligated funds elsewhere?
Answer. Again, NSF neither publicly acknowledges the receipt of nor
comments on review of proposals. Being judged meritorious is one of
many factors used in a funding decision. Successful facility design and
development proposals are funded from the Research and Research
Activities (R&RA) account appropriation.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Joe Manchin
Question 1. I was so disappointed that we were not able to schedule
a visit to the Green Bank Observatory last month, but I can tell you
that there was a big ice storm there that day so we both lucked out.
Our meeting would have otherwise had great timing, as it coincided with
the release of the decadal survey on astrobiology by the National
Academies of Science, which highlighted the Green Bank Telescope as
playing a key role in the future of earth's defense against asteroids
and other near-earth objects. For many years, I have been committed to
ensuring the Green Bank Observatory stays open for the next generation
of young scientists in West Virginia and around the world. Through my
seat on this Committee, I have strongly supported Green Bank's work
observing and cataloging near-earth objects, including the development
of new technology that would make it the world's largest moveable
antenna and transmitter.
A. How is Green Bank used in the detection of near-Earth
objects, and how could it be used in the future?
Answer. As highlighted in the newly released Planetary Science and
Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, ground-based radar observations
can provide invaluable information to reduce orbital uncertainties of
near-Earth objects by several orders of magnitude and can also yield
detailed characterization of their physical properties that can
influence impact mitigation strategies. NSF's National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (NRAO) and Green Bank Observatory (GBO) are developing new
instrumentation that will enable studies of near-Earth objects to
refine orbits and assess the level of threat they pose. pose. Over the
past two decades, NSF and GBO have worked successfully with NASA and
commercial entities to receive radar transmissions for scientific and
defense purposes. NSF will be discussing opportunities for enhancing
collaboration in the coming years that make use of the capabilities of
the Green Bank Telescope (GBT).
B. How will NSF respond to the recommendations from the
National Academies of Science, particularly its recommendation
for the use of the Green Bank Telescope as a transmitting
station?
Answer. NSF is currently funding a design study for a high-power
(500 kW) radar transmitter for installation on the Green Bank
Telescope, and discussions are underway with the scientific community,
and other agencies as NSF plans the final design and construction of
the system.
Question 2. The collapse of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico
in 2020 was shocking. While the Green Bank Telescope was built much
more recently than Arecibo, the collapse of Arecibo does call into
question NSF's assets around the world, and whether they too are in
need of maintenance. With the establishment of the new Tech Directorate
at NSF, it is particularly important that NSF does not lose sight of
its traditional research responsibilities. I understand that NSF is
conducting a review of its facilities in the wake of the Arecibo
collapse.
A. Have you reviewed the status of Green Bank? How would you
grade the infrastructure at the site?
Answer. Yes, NSF regularly assesses the condition of the Green Bank
facilities, undertaking a thorough external review roughly every 3
years in addition to the annual maintenance activities. The most recent
assessment is currently being completed. Although the preliminary
report has identified no urgent safety or structural issues, it does
identify several elements of site infrastructure that will soon need
significant investment to address maintenance typical of a facility
that is twenty years old. These include work on the azimuth track as
well as a need for large-scale repainting to ensure the structure
remains sealed and protected from the elements, enabling it to
withstand another twenty years of operations. NSF will work with the
awardee, AUI, and Green Bank Observatory staff to determine the
preferred approach and appropriate timescales for addressing the issues
identified by this recent assessment.
B. Please keep in touch with my office with respect to any
needs or requirements for maintenance for Green Bank. It would
be devastating to lose the capabilities that Green Bank
provides.
Answer. Thank you--NSF agrees completely!
Question 3. West Virginia benefits from a program called EPSCoR
that is designed to allow states that are underrepresented in Federal
research projects, including those at NASA and NSF, to participate in
research. Because of this program, West Virginia researchers have
received funds to investigate the effects of solar activity and space
weather on Earth and its magnetic field, played a role in building an
autonomous rover for Mars exploration, and created 3D printed materials
and devices suitable for space usage. It's clear that Federal research
funding has economic and quality of life implications for our states
and communities. Unfortunately, that Federal research funding is not
widely distributed. The 25 EPSCoR states and jurisdictions, including
WV, receive just 10.15 percent of NSF research funding. In contrast,
the top five states that receive the most NSF grants account for nearly
40 percent of the total. The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act
(USICA) includes a provision that would set aside 20 percent of NSF and
Department of Energy research funding for the 28 EPSCoR states that are
underserved by research funds.
A. Director, what steps can NSF take beyond EPSCoR to
improve its investments in smaller, more rural states like WV?
Answer. NSF is committed to expanding its geographic engagement to
spur innovation that provides an opportunity to capitalize on talent
across the U.S. NSF has a critical role in catalyzing networks of
institutions, through partnership opportunities, to build the next
generation of centers focused on innovation and contribute to local
economies. As of fiscal year 2021, approximately 13 percent of NSF
funding (i.e., R&RA, EHR, and MREFC appropriation accounts) was awarded
to institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions. The five initial EPSCoR
jurisdictions that joined NSF EPSCoR in 1980 have increased their
proportion of NSF's total research funding by 76 percent over the past
42 years. Other cohorts that entered in later years have also shown
remarkable gains, with each cohort showing an increase in research
competitiveness over the periods of participation.
NSF has two specific activities planned for increasing investment
in EPSCoR states. In fiscal year 2023, NSF has proposed a new cross-
agency activity, Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative
Equity and Diversity (GRANTED). Through GRANTED, NSF will engage under-
resourced and under-served institutions, including MSIs, community
colleges, rural institutions, predominantly undergraduate institutions,
and emerging research institutions, to build and enhance their research
support capacity. As a result, investigators at under-resourced
institutions, including institutions within EPSCoR jurisdictions, will
be equipped to submit more competitive research proposals to programs
across NSF.
NSF will also support specific targeted research capacity building
activities for EPSCoR-eligible states. The EPSCoR program will explore
mechanisms that will foster partnerships and collaborations among
eligible institutions not previously engaged in EPSCoR research
capacity building activities. These activities will include additional
enhancements to existing Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII)
tracks, possible new funding opportunities that will leverage the
success of EPSCoR's fiscal year 2022 RII Bridging EPSCoR Communities
initiative in response to American Rescue Plan funding, and
partnerships with cross-directorate funding activities aimed at
enhancing the delivery of benefits from EPSCoR research to the
respective jurisdiction's economic, industrial, and research
development.
Beyond GRANTED and EPSCoR, NSF has multiple programs designed to
increase research capacity and leverage realized research
infrastructure from across the Nation, including in EPSCoR
jurisdictions. Examples of additional NSF programs that may enhance the
research capacity of EPSCoR jurisdictions include Mid-scale Research
Infrastructure Track 1, National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research
Institutes, the Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and
Engineering (ExpandQISE) program, and the recently announced Regional
Innovation Engines, which is being coordinated by the newly established
Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP).
Question 4. The cybersecurity of our nation's critical
infrastructure and government systems is very important to me. We
cannot have a strong cybersecurity defense without the workforce to
maintain these systems. I am concerned about the state of our
cybersecurity workforce, in particular attracting new talent to work in
government agencies. I am pleased that the National Science Foundation
is providing CyberCorps Scholarships to students who agree to work in
cybersecurity jobs for Federal, state, local or tribal governments
after graduation. As I understand, most of these scholarships are given
to students from four-year collegiate institutions and community
colleges can only put forth nominees if the student agrees to transfer
to a four-year college to complete a bachelor's degree.
A. I think that we are missing out on a population of
individuals who can be very valuable to the cybersecurity
workforce with an associate's degree or certifications provided
through trade school programs. Would you be willing to consider
adjusting the scholarships to drop the four-year college
requirement?
Answer. NSF appreciates your recognition of the important aim of
the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program, to attract
talented students to work in Federal, state, local, or tribal
government organizations following their graduation. Community colleges
do play an important role in the efforts to develop the cybersecurity
workforce necessary for the Nation's cybersecurity missions. They offer
an important pool of students who could be recruited to fill the
cybersecurity needs of government.
Historically, SFS supported only students in their junior and
senior years so community colleges were not participating. The
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 introduced the opportunity to
provide 3 years of SFS support and, subsequently, community college
(CC) students were included in the SFS program via a ``CC Pathways
track'' where second-year students at community colleges became
eligible for 1 year of support and could then transfer to a four-year
SFS institution to be supported for two more years. As of December
2021, there were 28 community colleges participating in the CC
Pathways, in addition to the 83 four-year SFS schools.
The CC Pathways approach was intended to mitigate a problem with
placing SFS students without a four-year degree in Federal government
positions until government hiring practices evolve towards a
competency-based approach. The National Defense Authorization Act for
fiscal year 2018 authorized an alternative approach, the Community
College Cyber Pilot (C3P) program. Specifically, it authorized SFS
scholarships for community college students who are pursuing associate
degrees or certifications and who already have bachelor's degrees or
are veterans of the Armed Forces. The C3P Pilot consists of 8 community
colleges that in September 2018 received grants for a three-year
period. However, due to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
the pilot has been extended to the fourth year and will conclude in
September 2022. It is expected that the final evaluation of the C3P
pilot outcomes will be available by January 2023.
In addition to the above options, the SFS program has considered
other changes including dropping the four-year college requirement
(currently, only veterans of the Armed Forces are eligible). However,
NSF would need to proceed with caution because the students who are
unable to fulfill their government service see their scholarship
converted into a Federal Direct Loan. This situation presents a grave
risk.
An additional factor is that as more and more scientific advances,
such as artificial intelligence or quantum science, are incorporated
into cybersecurity education, the coursework demands are increasing. In
fact, a workforce with integrated AI and cybersecurity competencies is
one of the strategic directions for the SFS program. Under this
scenario, fulfilling the necessary course requirements in a two-year
program of study may prove challenging.
At the same time, NSF will use any opportunity to pilot and
evaluate new models to recruit the first- or second-year community
college students and mentor them to successfully compete for entry-
level cybersecurity positions.
In addition to the SFS program, NSF also supports cybersecurity
development at community colleges through the Improving Undergraduate
STEM Education: Computing in Undergraduate Education (IUSE:CUE) program
which invests in computing curricular development and has a community
colleges track. The Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program,
which focuses on the community college education of technicians of the
future in advanced technological areas, also invests in cybersecurity
education including both national centers of excellence, and the
engagement of institutions new to NSF.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Shelley Moore Capito
Question 1. Since its dedication in 2000, the GBT has been a
fundamental instrument for planetary science and planetary defense,
observing NEOs and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, the Moon, and the
terrestrial planets as a receiver for radar projects. Now, thanks to
new technology under development for the GBT, it is the largest fully
steerable antenna in the world capable of transmitting radar signals
for research. The GBT's 100- meter diameter makes it an impressive tool
for radar work. The location of the GBT and its maneuverability permits
it to observe 85 percent of the celestial sphere, allowing it to
quickly track objects across its field of view.
Director, for several years I have had to talk to previous
Directors imploring them to not mothball the Green Bank Telescope. We
have a new director there, Dr. James Jackson, and I wonder if you could
talk a moment about the possibilities and promise of radar systems in
the area of planetary defense. The National Academy of Sciences has
written on the dangerous effects of the impacts of Near Earth Objects.
A. I believe Green Bank can play a role here, what are your
thoughts?
Answer. GBT can play a significant role in determining the orbits
and characterizing the physical properties of NEOs, particularly in
conjunction with NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) systems.
GBT already occasionally operates as part of a bistatic radar facility
in which the GSSR transmits radar pulses and the GBT receives the faint
return signals from the reflection of those pulses by NEOs. NSF is
currently funding a design study for a high power (500 kW) radar
transmitter for installation on the GBT that will be complementary to
the GSSR. Discussions are underway with NASA and national security
agencies about how partnerships building upon this development may be
able to enhance current capabilities.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
Question 1. In my previous role as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I
saw firsthand the importance of maintaining U.S. superiority in
technology and innovation. I'm very concerned by the rapid growth in
China's R&D investments and what this means for U.S. global
competitiveness. According to the National Science Board's 2022 Science
and Engineering Indicators, ``The share of global R&D performed by the
U.S. declined from 29 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2019, whereas
the share by China increased from 15 percent to 22 percent.'' Dr.
Panchanathan, how do you see NSF's role evolving as U.S. leadership is
being challenged?
Answer. Our Nation's economic and national security depends on its
ability to:
--Invest heavily in the technologies of today and tomorrow;
--Unleash innovation everywhere by building ecosystems of innovation
in every region of the country; and
--Quickly develop our domestic talent across every geographic and
demographic background.
The technologies of today--from artificial intelligence to quantum
information science to semiconductors and microelectronics--hold
massive implications for national and economic security. It is
imperative that NSF double down now on these critical technology areas
and the research that will seed the technologies of the future.
For decades, NSF has seeded high-risk and nascent ideas that have
over time developed into applied technologies with transformative
impacts on our economy and society. For instance, Google and Qualcomm,
now multibillion-dollar companies, each started with a single grant
from NSF. Similarly, the AI revolution that we are witnessing today
traces its roots to investments by NSF in the 1980s and 1990s. As an
example, when a streaming service recommends the next show that you
should watch based on what you watched the night before--that
capability is fueled by NSF-funded research on a technique called
collaborative filtering. And the convergence of the NSF-funded page-
rank algorithm that led to Google, wireless networking, touchscreen
interfaces, and other innovations has catalyzed unanticipated
industries like mobility and e-commerce in which the U.S. dominates
today.
Global R&D investments have tripled over the last two decades, and
while US investment has also grown, the U.S. share has gone down, with
the rate of growth steeper in other Nations. While the top-down
structures in non-democratic nations do not foster sustained
innovation, it is nonetheless imperative that we strengthen our
investments and our overall approach to R&D in critical and emerging
technologies at speed and scale. The risk of falling behind is simply
not an option.
That is why NSF launched a new directorate--our first in more than
three decades--called Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, or TIP.
The goal of the TIP directorate is to do precisely as described above--
to leverage, energize, and rapidly advance use-inspired, solutions-
oriented research and innovation in critical and emerging technologies
and industries. By collaborating with NSF's other directorates, the
rest of the Federal enterprise, and the private sector, TIP will
advance technology and address national, societal, and economic
challenges, including regional opportunities present across the Nation;
accelerate the translation of research results to the market and
society; and tap into the vast talent base that exists throughout the
Nation and has for too long been left behind when it comes to the U.S.
research and innovation enterprise.
This is not the type of research the private sector will support by
itself. The U.S. has led because of the uniquely American innovation
ecosystem that has brought together academia, industry, and government
in a powerful way, with Federal investments in academic research
seeding industry uptake leading to new products and services.
Investments by both are necessary in order to stay ahead. Indeed, the
U.S. innovation ecosystem is the envy of the world--and now is not the
time to let up. Sustained growth in NSF, the Federal Government's basic
research agency, is critical to ensuring the U.S. remains in the
vanguard of global competitiveness.
Dr. Panchanathan, NSF recently announced a new Technology,
Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate to focus on creating
breakthrough technologies to meet the societal and economic needs of
our country. I understand that NSF has already moved some existing
programs into the TIP Directorate and has begun to make new funding
announcements.
Question 2. Can you speak to whether the process TIP will use to
review grants will be modified to match the goals of the directorate?
Answer. The TIP directorate will build upon NSF's longstanding
merit review process in developing an approach that best aligns with
the directorate's mission while enabling the selection of the best
proposals for funding. The directorate anticipates incorporating broad
and diverse expertise in its review process, including individuals from
government, industry, and nonprofits in addition to academia, along
with detailed program-specific review criteria. TIP will also pursue
pilots to enhance the review process, accelerate the proposal review
and award timeline, and ensure milestone-based assessment of active
awards.
Question 3. Are there new, more nimble and flexible funding
mechanisms and processes that you plan to implement that would be
unique to the directorate?
Answer. TIP is actively exploring new funding mechanisms and
oversight processes. For example, in the beginning of May, NSF launched
the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program by issuing a Broad Agency
Announcement--a relatively novel approach for NSF. The goal with this
approach is to engage the broadest set of stakeholders, beyond the
traditional academic community with which NSF usually engages. A recent
webinar for this program drew over 2,600 participants, almost 50
percent of whom were from non-academic institutions--an initial sign of
success for this approach.
More generally, NSF has partnered with a firm to run a series of
visioning workshops and is in discussions with the Federation of
American Scientists to explore new funding mechanisms that would help
to accelerate research and innovation.
Question 4. Institutions in Tennessee tell me that they are eager
to take advantage of the programs TIP intends to launch, particularly
possible expansions to the I-Corps program. Can you speak to your
vision for this important entrepreneurial program? Will anything about
it change now that it is part of TIP?
Answer. The NSF Innovation Corps (I-CorpsTM) program, an
experiential entrepreneurial education program, will continue to
further the Nation's innovation ecosystem by equipping researchers with
the tools needed to transform discoveries into innovative technologies.
I-CorpsTM connects the technological, entrepreneurial, and
business communities, addressing skill and knowledge gaps to accelerate
the transformation of basic research into deep technology ventures.
Over time, NSF anticipates enhancing and optimizing the agency's
current ``Lab-to-Market Platform,'' which includes the I-
CorpsTM program. This will allow researchers to pursue
additional prototyping, demonstration, and scale-up work, giving rise
to new startups and small businesses that will lead to new markets and
economies of scale. For example, through the I-CorpsTM
program, NSF will build out I-CorpsTM Hubs so that every
part of the country has easy access to these ``national resources'' and
support an increasing number of Teams each year. With increased
funding, NSF would be able to support partnerships between I-
CorpsTM and other NSF programs such as the Convergence
Accelerator and NSF Regional Innovation Engines.
Question 5. As NSF launches the TIP Directorate and is placing
increased attention and resources towards more use-inspired research in
key technology areas, we must be mindful not to duplicate efforts of
other research agencies, including the Dept. of Energy. For over 70
years, NSF's strength has been its ability to promote scientific
progress across basic scientific and engineering disciplines as the
cornerstone of America's basic research enterprise. How is NSF
balancing these other fields of basic research versus the more applied,
technology-driven research it is now pursuing? What will the future of
other directorates look like as TIP ramps up? And how is NSF
collaborating with other agencies, such as DOE, to ensure taxpayer
dollars are being used efficiently?
How is NSF balancing these other fields of basic research versus
the more applied, technology-driven research it is now pursuing?
Answer. NSF has consistently supported the full spectrum of
fundamental research, from foundational, curiosity-driven, discovery-
oriented research to use-inspired, solutions-oriented research. Indeed,
this synergy between discovery and innovation constitutes NSF's
``DNA,'' if you will. It is how transformational leaps forward happen.
In a similar fashion, NSF's investments in science and technology are
also intertwined. The scientific pursuit of knowledge and understanding
cannot be separated from the development of new technological
capabilities. In turn, new technology capabilities enable the pursuit
of new scientific research questions that were previously out of reach.
NSF has long invested in use-inspired research and the translation
of research results into practice through a wide range of programs. The
TIP directorate constitutes a once-in-a-generation opportunity to
double down on this type of work to focus on pivotal challenges and
positively transform society, and to do so through public and private
partnerships that help to inform, coordinate and grow NSF's research
and education investments. Together, TIP and the other NSF directorates
and offices will advance technology; address national, societal, and
economic challenges, including regional opportunities present across
the Nation; and tap into the vast talent base that exists throughout
the Nation and has for too long been left behind when it comes to the
U.S. research and innovation enterprise.
What will the future of other directorates look like as TIP ramps
up?
Answer. Building on NSF's longstanding leadership in science and
engineering research and education, TIP serves as a crosscutting
platform and collaborates with NSF's other directorates and offices to
leverage, energize, and rapidly advance use-inspired, solutions-
oriented research and innovation in critical and emerging technologies
and industries. In general, NSF plans to take a balanced approach
between its existing directorates that support basic research and TIP.
For over seven decades, NSF has been investing in fundamental research
in all fields of science and engineering, delivering foundational and
use-inspired outcomes, and will continue to do so.
And how is NSF collaborating with other agencies, such as DOE, to
ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently?
Answer. Within the Federal research and development enterprise,
NSF's investments complement those of other agencies. Specifically,
many other agencies invest in R&D focused on their mission needs. NSF
investments in fundamental research often involve partnerships with
other agencies to leverage that research and help meet those agencies'
needs. For example, NSF has collaborated with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) on the NSF-led National Artificial Intelligence
Research Institutes program, with USDA's National Institute of Food and
Agriculture fully funding four food and agricultural institutes to
date. Beyond these partnerships, NSF stands ready to rapidly scale use-
inspired and translational research, complementing and enhancing R&D
investments across the Federal government.
TIP serves as an agency-wide resource to catalyze and scale public
and private partnerships to amplify and further the impact of NSF
investments in research, innovation, and education. Specifically, TIP
provides expertise and support to build partnerships, along with co-
funding to strategically advance high-impact relationships that will
deepen and advance NSF's mission across science, engineering, and
education. TIP ensures these partnerships expand the reach of, and
exponentially increase the return on, NSF's investments across all
directorates and offices.
Senator Shaheen. This was a very informative hearing. It
feels like our science future is in good hands, and we very
much appreciate the work that both of you are doing--
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. And look forward to
continuing to collaborate and cooperate with your efforts.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Shaheen. At this point, the subcommittee stands in
recess until Wednesday, May 11, at 2:00 p.m., when we will hold
a hearing on the budget request of the Department of Commerce.
Thank you both.
Dr. Panchanathan. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member
Moran.
[Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., Tuesday, May 3, the subcommittee
was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.]