The US space agency has secured a strong amount of funding for lunar research in the year 2020 and has set its sights on the Moon. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine boldly announced future lunar missions will serve as stepping stones for NASA to send humans to Mars. The budget was presented on Monday, March 11, by US President Donald Trump. Mr Bridenstine said additional funding will allow the space agency to return astronauts to the Moon as late as 2028.
He said: “We will go to the Moon in the next decade with innovative, new technologies and systems to explore more locations across the lunar surface than ever before.
“This time, when we go to the Moon, we will stay.
“We will use what we learn as we move forward to the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.”
President Trump’s budget outlines a £275.5million ($363million) fund to develop a “large lunar lander” for cargo and manned missions.
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The budget also focuses heavily on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will serve as a heavy-lift launch vehicle designed for deep space exploration.
As a result, Mr Bridenstine said the funding is “one of the strongest on record” for NASA and comes in at six percent more than what the agency requested last year.
The budget also outlines a £1.97 billion ($2.6billion) increase for Planetary Science, which includes £454.9million ($600million) for a 2023 mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.
“Cutting-edge aeronautics research” was also mentioned by the document, with the US hoping to expand the development of supersonic jet travel.
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Overall, NASA’s funding touts a £214.7million ($283million) or 1.4-percent increase from the initial 2019 estimate.
The budget reads: “The Budget takes steps to achieve lunar exploration goals sooner, improve sustainability of NASA’s exploration campaign, and increase the use of commercial partnerships and other procurement models to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of NASA programs.”
But there is concern NASA’s renewed focused on lunar landing and Mars exploration comes at the cost of the space agency’s other scientific divisions.
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A £4.7billion ($6.3billion) in funding to NASA’s scientific programmes, comes at a loss of £454.9million ($600million) on proviso budgets.
NASA will also see a 30 percent cut to its astrophysics divisions and the budget proposed cancelling the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
Other space telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were spared from drastic cuts.
However, with the looming 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA’s future goals are firmly targeting the Moon.
Mr Bridenstine work will kick off this year, starting with a number of commercial delivery missions to the Moon with “new landers, robots and eventually humans by 2028”.
He said: “As we approach the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 this July, we are moving forward to the Moon and on to Mars, and we want the world to come with us.
“NASA is everywhere, and we are impacting people’s lives across the globe.
“As we celebrate the past, let’s inspire our friends and family for the future that we are building.”