Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Gary Liebowitz of Wachovia Securities. Your line is open.
Gary Liebowitz – Wachovia Securities
Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen.
Dave Thompson
Good morning, Gary.
Gary Liebowitz – Wachovia Securities
Dave, can you comment a little bit on the stimulus plan? It looks like NASA got about a billion dollar mark. Have you had a chance to look at that and any sort of details as to what types of opportunities would be available for orbital?
Dave Thompson
Yes, we've taken a preliminary look at what – the information that's available on that and that does represent a potential upside for us over the next year or 18 months. As you say, Gary, NASA received about a billion dollar unexpected funding increase in the economic stimulus package and that includes about $400 million for an accelerated program of earth science satellites and also about $400 million that can be applied to the Orion and AIRES system. NASA is due to report back to Congress within a little less than two months in terms of the details of how they would – how they would put that money to work over the next 18 months to 24 months, and so all of the program level information is still being formulated by the space agency. We'll be watching that carefully and we do view that as an area of some upside potential for us.
I might also mention, in this connection, that as J.R. mentioned, in addition to this increase for NASA, within the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is a companion agency to NASA in the area of weather satellites and earth science, spacecraft also received a substantial contribution from the stimulus package. Again, the details on that are not immediately available, but we'll be tracking that closely over the next couple of months as well and the potential there is at least in the earth science area is roughly comparable to the $400 million increase that NASA has been allocated. So those do look like both short-term and I think longer-term growth areas for the company. We'll also be watching closely when the fiscal year of 2010 budget comes out in April for potential additional increases beyond just the stimulus investments that would apply over the next year and a half or two years, but for the longer term as well.
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