Space: Defense and Civilian Agencies Request Significant Funding for Launch-Related Activities
Abstract
The Department of Defense (DOD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) rely on launch service providers to place payloads into orbit on a recurring basis. DOD and NASA are the nation s two launch agents as identified in the U.S. Space Transportation Policy. The agencies involved in space launch activities request funding each year to develop, procure, and support these activities. This funding represents a significant investment on the part of the government. However, because the agencies involved budget and account for their respective space launch efforts differently, the total governmentwide funding to support these activities is difficult to determine. This report formally transmits the enclosed briefing with information on the launch-related funding that government agencies expect to require from fiscal years 2014 through 2018. We prepared this report as an initial step in addressing your broader request that we provide shortand long-term assessments examining impediments to economical procurement of government launch vehicles and launch services. Specifically, with this report, we address your interest in gaining more detailed knowledge about the amount and types of funding government agencies expect to allocate to launch-related activities and infrastructure for fiscal years 2014 through 2018. This information should help to inform plans to lower launch costs, increase competition, and invest in new programs. To conduct this work, we obtained and analyzed DOD and NASA top-level budget documentation (along with relevant funding from other government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that use either DOD or NASA as the launch agent for their satellites) and aggregated the total amount of funding the agencies expect to require for launch-related activities from fiscal years 2014 through 2018.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 09, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA586247
Entities
People
- Cristina T. Chaplain
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office