The President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2007 was released this morning. The highlights can be found here and the details here. It includes the 14.1% increase for the DOE Office of Science as reported here last week. $60 M from the high energy physics budget is earmarked for Research&Development of the accelerator design for the International Linear Collider. I think that’s a good thing, but others may be disappointed.
Here’s the accompanying language:
The HEP request also develops the most compelling new scientific opportunities for the U.S. HEP program in the next decade, including $60 million of R&D for a potential international linear collider, enabling a U.S. leadership role in a comprehensive, coordinated international R&D program. While the future trajectory of the HEP program has a strong emphasis on linear collider R&D, it will also provide a diverse array of other world-leading efforts, including the understanding of dark energy, strong U.S. participation in Large Hadron Collider physics, and forefront neutrino experiments and facilities.
February 6th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
It’s a great news, of course. I wonder if BTeV would still be on the table if he decided to do that last year…
February 6th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Anyone know how non-DoE funding stands?
February 6th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
On page 338 of Volume 4 of the DOE budget you will find the $60 million listed. It is an 800-some page pdf document, so do not click if you are on dialup.
February 6th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
Why are they looking into a linear collider? I was under the impression (in fact I believe I did a problem on it in my special relativity class) that circular accelerators are much more efficient given the multiple loops you can send particles through…
Cheers,
NM
February 6th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
How is NASA going? (And how is the within-NASA breakdown?) I’ve heard funds were being diverted from astro to Mars.
February 6th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
All of this comes with the usual caveat: this is a budget proposal and will be tweaked and earmarked to death by House and Senate members lobbyied to the extremes in the so “not” reformed system of privilege and power. A $60 million dollar line item now, becomes pooled with someone else’s not so pet project to be earmarked dollars to be used by Ted Stevens. To keep these values and assignations requires diligent continued lobbying on all our parts, from now until the Budget is passed before the October 2006 deadline.
February 6th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
While DOE and NSF are looking good, NASA looks to be killing off science right and left. Steinn has been digging into it.
February 6th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
Meanwhile, the effort to gut Medicare, federal student loan programs, housing assistance, etc, continues. At some point the focus on federal funding for science starts to look a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:43 am
Nicholas: Synchroton radiation (i.e., photon radiation/bremstrahlung) occurs at a very large rate as accelerators increase in center of mass energy. This radiation occurs much more often in circular colliders than in linear ones. It also occurs at a lower energy for electron beams (elementary particles) than for protons (composite particles). For electrons, we have reached the break even point with circular colliders – where the amount of energy we pump in is equal to the amount that is radiated away. And that is why the next electron collider must be linear – the synchrotron radiation is much less and we can acheive our collision energy much more efficiently.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:46 am
NASA, of course, has to pay for the all important mission to Mars. Real science takes a second seat in this respect, according to our Science President.
February 7th, 2006 at 6:46 am
I was talking to some astronomers yesterday who are more in touch with issues of funding than am I, and they were of the opinion that the Manned Mission to Mars was already on the skids. Which is good news for most astronomers, I’d say.
February 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Note that it is all from borrowed money; this is unsustainable.