Though part of NASA’s top-funded science directorate, the agency’s planetary exploration budget suffers a sustained, pre-sequester 20% reduction in the Obama administration’s 2014 budget proposal and its outyear projections.

Establishing a U.S. human commercial space transportation capability by 2017 will require more than $821 million annually for the next three years if the initiative is to achieve the White House’s goal, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden emphasized as the fiscal 2014 budget request went to Capitol Hill today. Commercial crew is to receive $525 million under the 2013 budget continuing resolution, up from just more than $400 million in NASA’s 2012 budget.

COLORADO SPRINGS — After a decade of multibillion-dollar cost overruns and delays in delivering satellites, it seems the U.S. Air Force can claim that it has finally averted a potential disaster—at least for now—on its next big satellite program.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is nearly finished negotiating the details of its first two contracts providing launch services to the U.S. Air Force. Talks for its Falcon 9 v1.1 launch of NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (Dscovr) satellite and a Falcon Heavy flight lofting the Air Force’s Space Test Program (STP-2) satellite should be wrapped up by the end of the month, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell tells Aviation Week. Dscovr is slated to boost in November 2014, with STP-2 to follow in September 2015.

NASA spending rises to a pre-sequestration level of $17.7 billion under President Barack Obama’s proposed 2014 budget and holds steady in outyear projections, essentially casting off the current fiscal year deficit-reducing rollback to fuel an accelerated asteroid encounter by astronauts.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Lockheed Martin is entering the final assembly, test and launch phase of NASA’s Maven spacecraft, which will be launched in November on a mission to investigate what caused the disappearance of most of the Martian atmosphere.

Two Astrophysics Explorer-class missions are set for launch in 2017 under a NASA selection announced April 5: a planet-finding satellite and an X-ray timing detector to be mounted on the International Space Station.

BUDGET COVERAGE: When the U.S. government’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal is released on April 10, Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers should be sure to visit http://www.aviationweek.com/awin/USBudget2014.aspx, which will feature all the latest budgetary and programmatic news, data and analysis grouped together in one place. To allow for the most up-to-date budget news to be included, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report subscribers should expect a delay in the arrival of their issue dated April 11.