Proposed NASA Budget Includes Asteroid Capture but Cuts Planetary Science and Education

Abstract

The Obama administration's proposed $17.7 billion budget for NASA for fiscal year (FY) 2014 provides $105 million for several asteroid‐related initiatives, including preliminary studies for a potential mission that would capture an asteroid and drag it into orbit around the Moon. The agency's total proposed budget is down slightly compared to FY 2012 (see Table ; comparisons are to FY 2012 because government agencies had been operating on a continuing resolution for 2013 and final spending levels for 2013 were not available at the time the president released his proposed 2014 budget).