Friday, 8 Jan 93 Washington, DC
1. PRESIDENT BUSH UNVEILS HIS FINAL DEFICIT PROJECTION!
Under the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, President Clinton must submit
the real FY 94 budget to Congress by 1 Feb 93--just 12 days after he
takes office. But meanwhile, President Bush released a "baseline budget"
showing what federal spending--and the deficit--will look like if no
changes are made in programs and policies. Projections include $859M for
the SSC (up from $517M in FY 93). There is also $1,086M for other
accelerator projects (up from $931M), including the main injector upgrade
at Fermilab, a B-Factory at SLAC, and restoration of the RHIC
construction schedule. Bush's projection also includes the final
installment in the five-year doubling of the NSF budget. Sound good?
Forget it! The bottom line, even with no new programs and no inflation
adjustment, is a $327B deficit.
2. QUAYLE'S SPACE POLICY ADVISORS LAUNCH THEIR LAST ROCKET!
"The current organization of space activities is not appropriate for the
post Cold War era," according to the Vice President's Space Policy
Advisory Board. That may not come as a major revelation to the incoming
Administration. In a report released last week, the Board called for
closer cooperation between the military and civil space programs, fewer
security restraints, more cooperation with industry, and leadership in an
international space agenda. The first change by the incoming
Administration, however, will be to abolish the Space Policy Advisory
Board in favor of a broader National Technology Council headed by Vice
President Gore.
3. SHUTTLE MISSION STS-54 WILL ADVANCE THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE.
The seven-day $843M mission is scheduled for a 13 Jan 93 launch. In the
"Application Specific Preprogrammed Experiment Culture System Physics of
Toys" test, Mission Specialist Susan Helms will play with a "flipping
mouse," Mario Runco with "klacker balls", Greg Harbaugh with a
basketball, and pilot Don McMonagle with a "balloon helicopter". After
recess they can relieve themselves in a test of the new $30M Hamilton
Standard Space Toilet. Then, it's on to the Extravehicular Activity
test. The Intravehicular Crew Member (Helms) will observe as
Extravehicular Crew Member 1 (Harbaugh) and Extravehicular Crew Member 2
(Runco) manipulate each other in the cargo bay. As explained by NASA:
"To simulate carrying a large object, the astronauts will carry one
another; to simulate how well they can align an object, they will attempt
to place each other into brackets in Endeavor's airlock."
4. GASP! THE AIR IS THINNING IN BIOSPHERE-2!
A 28% drop in the oxygen concentration over the last fifteen months is
having a dizzying effect on eight eco-pioneers in the "miniature world."
"It is the kind of mystery Biosphere 2 was meant to investigate," noted
the systems engineer. Crews are standing by to pump in pure oxygen if
things get worse. The experiment seems to be converging on a general
conclusion: humans can survive in the enviropod if there is an external
source of air, food and water.
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