Congress: fund science and exploration

[I mailed the following letter (paper / snail mail) this week to Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Johnny Isakson and Representative John Lewis.  Please consider doing the same.]

Dear Senator / Representative:

I am writing to you today to express my support for the funding of science and exploration in general, and for three projects specifically. I do not have a personal financial stake in any of these projects, and I do not work in these industries. They simply fire my imagination about what we might accomplish and learn in the future as we continue to research the world around us.

I urge you to support funding for all three of these projects.

1. Arecibo and NSF – Arecibo is the gigantic radio telescope in Puerto Rico that suddenly is facing a drastic funding shortfall. Arecibo is responsible for many, many discoveries about our universe, too many to enumerate here. Further, generally, the National Science Foundation continues to do great things and deserves their funding request.

2. Spares flights to ISS – NASA continues to plan the last flights of the Space Shuttle, with a targeted end to the program in September 2010. The last two flights are “contingency flights”, and while that's a dull name, those are quite important missions. Without those last two flights, the International Space Station will not have the critical spares needed to ensure operation through 2015 and beyond. These are spares that could easily be the difference between “we'll have that fixed in a week” and “abandon ship”. Please protect funding for these last two flights.

3. Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to ISS – The AMS is a huge scientific instrument that is already built and ready to launch to ISS. Unfortunately, NASA currently plans to leave it on the ground, forever. With just one more shuttle flight, this last piece of ISS could make it to orbit.

I'm sure your science advisor can tell you more about these projects. Please make sure that he keeps you aware of legislation that affects these, and let your congressional colleagues know how important they are.

In general, funding of projects like these is a fantastic investment in our future, both for purposes of financial return and motivation of the next generation. As a boy I spent countless hours studying the results of the robotic expeditions to the plains of the Mars and the outer solar system, submarine exploration of the bottom of the seas, and manned activities in low earth orbit. I'm sure if we continue to fund these activities that we will be inspiring a whole new generation to pursue science and engineering careers.

This is not a form letter, which I'm sure you get a lot of. I hope you'll bear these concerns in mind as you go through the last few months of the session.

Comments

[Victor]

Hey Chris - typo: "I am writing to _do_ you today..."

[Chris C.]

Ouch! Not sure if that made it into the paper letter. Thanks Victor.

Update: I got a nice response from Saxby Chambliss detailing the relevant legislation involved. No response from Lewis or Isakson.

[Chris C.]

I got a letter from Johnny Isakson that focused on the Arecibo funding. He reviewed the funding arrangement and then pointed out that Senator Clinton (!) has introduced legislation in April 2008 (S.2862) to protect Arecibo. He said he'd "keep [my] thoughts in mind as this bill goes through the legislative process".