Figure 5.

The US federal funding process. This complicated cartoon illustrates some of the many factors at play in determining US budgets. A top-ranked mission in the decadal survey (icon in lower left) does not instantly translate into funding for a NASA mission ($ in lower right), as many diverse constituents make their needs known. The small fonts of the US Decadal Survey and NASA (in yellow) allude to their relative importance in the grand scheme of US federal budgets. Modified from an image by Matt Mountain (AURA), and used with permission. (Online version in colour.)