One might think that Congress, having given itself an extra six months to pass a budget for the 2011 fiscal year, now already half over, would get the easy funding decisions right. In the case of civil space, and in particular a next-generation weather satellite system, however, lawmakers flat out blew it. In providing just $382 million for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), brushing aside appeals from the White House and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for an additional $528 million to jump start the program, lawmakers have all but guaranteed there will be a gap in U.S. weather forecasting capabilities within the next 10 years.

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