Friday, 09 January 98 Washington, DC
1. **BUDGET: PRESIDENT EXPECTED TO REQUEST 9% BOOST FOR NSF.**
After years of lagging behind Congress on the science budget, the
White House is planning to take the initiative by topping the 7%
solution called for by the science community and embodied in the
Gramm-Lieberman bill
(WN 28 Nov 97).
According to White House
sources, an intense letter-writing campaign by scientists was a
factor in the turnaround
(WN 12 Dec 97).
The Administration will
argue that the increases can be covered by the massive tobacco
settlement. To have science funded at the expense of the tobacco
industry would be doubly sweet. Meanwhile, a "dear colleague"
letter is being circulated by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) seeking
co-sponsors for a House companion to the Gramm-Lieberman bill.
2. LUNAR PROSPECTOR: RETURN TO THE MOON FRAUGHT WITH IRONY.
The
exploration of the moon has been resumed after 25 years with a
low-cost robot, inspired not by Apollo, but by a Star Wars era
probe launched by the Pentagon in 1994. Clementine, a mere 22
months from concept to launch at a cost of a trifling $75M, was
used to test space hardware without violating the Missile Defense
Treaty (WN 1 Apr 94).
Clementine was an existence proof of Dan
Goldin's vision of "faster, cheaper, better." On its way to an
attempted rendezvous with the asteroid Geographos, Clementine
stopped by for a little multi-spectral lunar mapping--and seemed
to detect water ice in a deep crater. The $63M Prospector will
look for ice with a neutron spectrometer, using cosmic rays for
activation. Although the presence of water would have important
scientific implications, media hype has focused on prospects for
an inhabited moon base. Whatever the spin, Lunar Prospector
underscores the declining role of humans in space exploration.
3. THE BAD SEED: "PHYSICIST" STIRS UP CLONING CONTROVERSY.
News
reports of a plan to create a human cloning clinic all seemed to
begin with word "physicist" and most people added the prefix
"arrogant." In an NPR interview, G. Richard Seed, PhD, physics,
Harvard 53, said, "Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the
first serious step in becoming one with God." If his name is
really "Dick Seed," he's not an APS member. Rep. Vern Ehlers
(R-MI) believes Seed may help pass legislation to ban human cloning.
4. WASHINGTON SHUTTLE: REPLACEMENTS AT NASA AND NSF.
Joseph H.
Rothenberg will replace Wilbur Trafton as director of the Office
of Space Flight, which runs the shuttle and the space station.
Currently director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Rothenberg
is the first OSF director with no links to the human space flight
program. Trafton resigned in the wake of space station cost
overruns (WN 14 Nov 97).
University of Maryland microbiologist
Rita Colwell is the nominee for Deputy Director of NSF. The job
has been vacant since Ann Petersen departed 18 months ago.
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