Last week, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, participated in a Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the president’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and for the National Science Foundation (NSF).
During the hearing, Capito questioned NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan on the importance and future of West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope. She also questioned NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on the role of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility and inspiring the next generation’s interest in science through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program.
“You know, I’ve implored previous directors to not mothball that Green Bank Telescope, and you and I talked previously, right before,” Capito said. “The new director, Dr. James Jackson, started a few years ago. I just think we ought to talk about and tell everybody about the possibilities the promise of radar systems in the area of planetary defense. The National Academy of Sciences has written of the dangerous effects of Near Earth Objects. What role do you believe radio astronomy, and specifically Green Bank, which is the largest fully-steerable telescope in the world, located in West Virginia, what role do you see there? Where do you see the future?”