Computing a Winner, Fusion a Loser In US Science Budget

sciencehabit writes "President Barack Obama has released a $3.901 trillion budget request to Congress, including proposals for a host of federal research agencies. Science Magazine has the breakdown, including a big win for advanced computing, a big cut for fusion, and status quo for astronomy. 'In the proposed budget, advanced computing would see its funding soar 13.2% to $541 million. BES, the biggest DOE program, would get a boost of 5.5% to $1.807 billion. BER would get a 3% bump to $628 million, and nuclear physics would enjoy a 4.3% increase to $594 million. In contrast, the fusion program would take a 17.6% cut to $416 million—$88 million less than it's getting this year. Although far from final, the numbers suggest another big dip for a program that has enjoyed a roller coaster ride in recent years. In its proposed 2013 budget, DOE called for slashing spending on domestic fusion research to help pay for the increasing U.S. contribution to the international fusion experiment, ITER, in Cadarache, France.'" The Association of American Universities has issued a letter disapproving of the amount of research funding. The Planetary Society has broken down the proposed NASA budget.

Comments

Hello, Barack? This is kettle

[RogueWarrior65]

For a guy who pissed away billions on failed solar companies, you'd think he could cough up some decent coin for fusion power research. But nooOOOOOoooo...

Re:Hello, Barack? This is kettle

[drinkypoo]

For a guy who pissed away billions on failed solar companies, you'd think he could cough up some decent coin for fusion power research.

Solyndra was known to be a failure before it even got out of the gate. That was a corporate handout, plain and simple. That was not a solar company. That was a handout-receiving company.