NASA budget sees Moon & Mars mission prioritised
The latest NASA budget reveals that the Orion spacecraft and Lunar Gateway space station will be scrapped. The $18 billion total figure means a reduction in spending by $6 billion or 24%, with the agency hoping to increase funding towards crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.
This is not just part of the Trump administration’s policy to cut federal spending. It also shows a change in priorities at NASA. The most evident change, if the budget is approved, is that the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) will end with the Artemis III mission, scheduled to take off in 2027. Delays and cost issues have led to calls to replace the project with more cost-effective commercial competitors.
Orion is already suffering setbacks including with its life support systems and heat shield, while SLS is decades behind schedule. Each launch of the SLS costs around $4 billion, and it can only fly once every two years.
Gateway, planned to be an orbital outpost for lunar and Mars missions, is also on the chopping block. It has been seen as unnecessary, and delays mean it will be unlikely to launch before the middle of the next decade.
However, these do not mean that the Artemis program, the planned return to the moon, is being cut. $7 billion is allocated for crewed explorations of the moon and an additional billion dollars is earmarked for crewed flights to Mars, especially as China shows its ambitions to land astronauts on both.
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