NASA plans to take astronauts to Mars and back to the moon. The Biden-Harris Administration announced a $24.7 billion NASA budget on Friday in order to keep those efforts on track.
The White House budget prioritizes a larger range of science priorities than Trump's budget, which centred on the more high-profile Artemis moon project, which will pave the way for putting humans on Mars.
It's fantastic news for missions like the Roman Space Telescope, which Trump has given a boost. More funding for other programs, on the other hand, might mean setting Artemis achievements on a longer and more practical schedule.
In a statement, acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said, "The president's discretionary proposal enhances NASA's capacity to better understand Earth and further track and forecast the impacts of climate change." "It also provides us with the tools we need to begin advancing America's bipartisan Moon to Mars space colonization mission, including the Artemis program's goal of landing the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon."
Trump planned $25.2 billion for NASA in 2021, thus slashing projects like the SOFIA flying observatory. Congress eventually funded $23.3 billion, with half of the funds going to missions that Trump had targeted for cuts.
The Biden administration is helping NASA to prepare ahead and work more effectively by releasing a framework that aligns more favourably with what Congress is expected to accept, according to Casey Dreier, senior space policy advisor and chief advocate of the Planetary Society, in a phone interview.
"Many presidents have done this dance where they cut the STEM education program or a common astrophysics mission, and Congress still puts the money back," he said. "Until Congress approves a budget, the administration and budget office must presume that the funding will not be used for their budgeting purposes, which is bad for science competitiveness."
"It basically helps NASA to do its job," he said.
This brief plan, according to Dreier, is lacking in details — complete budget breakdowns are hundreds of pages long — but it does have some noteworthy and promising features.
NASA's STEM education initiative, atmospheric science flights, taking a Martian soil sample to Earth, and renewable energy research and development are all highlighted in the plan. Artemis is still a significant priority, but with a reduced role.
Under Trump, the initial Artemis scheme called for humans to return to the moon in 2024. But there's a lot of research and planning to be completed between now and then.
Artemis has an approved budget of about $6.5 billion in 2021, and the proposed budget for 2022 is $6.9 billion. If NASA was really going to the moon in just a few years, it wouldn't be such a large leap.
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