The US administration proposes a $ 6 billion reduction in NASA’s budget for the next year, which led to the destruction of the cornerstone of the moon program in the agency and its ambitious plan to restore rock samples from Mars.
President Donald Trump Administration Absolute The so -called a slim budget on Friday, the proposed funding for the year 2026 in NASA is determined. The proposed budget highlights “the goals of returning to the moon in front of China and putting a man on Mars.” Hence, it will lead to a missile to the NASA space launch system (SLS) and its Orion’s capsule, replace it with commercial alternatives, and end the moon gate in the agency-a space station at work that will be the first to revolve around the moon. The budget will also return to the sample of Mars in NASA in an attempt to “end their unbearable tasks.”
NASA has taken a lot of heat for the huge moon missile that can be fully exploited, which poured billions in SLS before Acknowledging that it cannot be endured in the end. A 5.75 million pounds missile was built using the components of NASA’s space shuttle, which was operated from 1981 to 2011. It is a heavy attribute missile, unfortunately, it costs a fortune. SLS already He went 6 billion dollars on the budgetWith the expected cost of each SLS missile of $ 144 million than expected. This would increase the total cost of the launch of one Artemis to at least $ 4.2 billion, according to a report It was released in May by NASA’s Inspector Office.
Trump’s close ally, the billionaire missile, Elon Musk, has I spoke Against the use of SLS for the upcoming ARTEMIS tasks, the concept is criticized due to a complete lack of reuse. Jared Ishaq, Trump’s candidate for NASA, is not a fan of SLS, Reference It is “expensive”.
“The budget finances a program to replace SLS and Orion trips to the moon with more cost -effective commercial systems that support the ambitious moon tasks,” says the budget proposal. The closer missile is likely to be suitable for the job is a Spacex vehicle.
The Orion capsule completed an unavailable journey to the moon and returning in November 2022 for the NASA’s Artemis 1 mission, and is expected to hold a crew in April 2026 for Artemis 2. Problems with a heat shield and hatch for capsuleIt was a good performance during the first going. However, the budget proposal indicates that Orion will be replaced after Artemis 3.
Although Artemis was conceived during the first period of Trump to return humans to the moon for the first time since APollo, the program is torn by the first proposed budget for management. Another potential sacrifice of Artemis is Moon GateSpace station designed for the role of the moon and supporting continuous tasks through scientific research.
The proposed budget is a 24 % reduction in the current NASA budget of $ 24.8 billion for 2025. The majority of the space agency space programs will suffer from the budget cuts to provide the NASA human space exploration budget, which has received an additional 647 million dollars compared to the 2025 budget where the administration is still a vehicle to return to the moon and air fungi. The Trump administration has allocated more than $ 7 billion to explore the moon and an additional billion dollars in new investments for Mars.
It was not very lucky to the Mars Sample RTURN (MSR) plan, a detailed plan for NASA to restore samples from the Red Planet. The budget proposal indicated the task as “excessive in excess and that its goals will be achieved by human missions to Mars.” NASA is struggling to discover a way to make MSR work, but the task has suffered from costs and delaying scheduling. The mission was originally crowned with a budget of $ 7 billion to return samples in the 2030s. However, it was later revealed that MSR requires a budget of 11 billion dollars, with an estimate of the restoration of samples by 2040. In light of A. a report It was released in 2023, NASA started Consider an alternative structure for her complex mission But the agency did not reach a strong plan for MSR.
The budget also suggests reducing the size of the crew on the International Space Station (ISS) before the planned retirement in 2030, when it is expected to be replaced by a commercial space station, and possibly multiple commercial space stations. “The crew trips and goods will be reduced to the station significantly,” said the budget proposal. “The low research capacity of the station will focus on the efforts made by the moon and Mars exploration programs.”
NASA expects severe budget discounts under Trump, and the allocation of the proposed money has put many important programs for the agency on the intersection board, which is lost years of search, financing and choosing a commercial alternative instead.
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