Nasa mars rover marks its year1/3/2024 President Joe Biden has so far not laid out a robust space policy, but White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration fully supports NASA’s Artemis mission, which prioritizes returning American astronauts to the moon as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of crewed Mars flights. But it’s also a crucial step toward sending people to the Red Planet, a long-term goal that was often raised by former President Donald Trump, but also has support from both parties. Studying the dust with high-tech equipment on Earth could answer big-picture questions, including whether life ever existed on Mars. But I think we have got to keep a robust exploration into space in our budget.” “When we have debt like we have, we don’t have money to spend like water. “This really goes beyond Democrat and Republican,” he said. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), the top Republican appropriator for NASA in the House, agreed that Mars draws the attention of members in both parties. “This mission has been years in the making, and unless determined otherwise by the team, would be a waste of talent and resources to not see this mission through and ensure the return of scientific samples the rover obtains,” Moran said in a statement. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the top Republican on the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, said it’s important to see the mission through now that the first chapter has begun. The larger vehicle will drop the sample-holding ball somewhere in the Utah desert. That small orb will rendezvous with a larger spacecraft orbiting Mars in the third leg of the program. A rover named Fetch will pick up the tubes and load them into a spacecraft about the size of a soccer ball that will blast off from the surface. NASA will partner with the European Space Agency for the second part of the mission. Perseverance will place samples into small tubes that can sit on the surface for decades waiting for their return trip, Kenneth Farley, the project scientist for Perseverance, told POLITICO ahead of the mission launch. The Perseverance rover is the first in a proposed three-step effort to bring samples of the Red Planet’s dust back to Earth to study. We have competitors out there who are going to take advantage of the opportunities that exist on asteroids, the moon and Mars. “There will always be those kinds of challenges but we have to keep our eye on the ball. “It’s easy to get distracted by challenges,” Lucas said in an interview. Most recently, a Chinese spacecraft that arrived in Mars’ orbit this month will send a rover to the surface in a few months. For example, China has launched an aggressive space program, including robotic exploration of the far side of the moon and plans for a space station orbiting Earth. Other nations racing to the Red Planet should motivate hesitant lawmakers on board, Lucas argues. Lucas pointed to NASA’s track record to show why he’s worried, including the cancellation of the later Apollo missions because the nation “lost focus” and because of the gap in the agency’s commitment to deep space exploration when the Constellation program was scrubbed under the Obama administration. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said he would “enthusiastically” support such a proposal, adding that he is “concerned” about support and funding for the mission decreasing because the payoff of bringing the samples home is so far away. “But why not get a huge bipartisan vote in Congress committing to the idea that future appropriators can look back at and say, ‘This was the intent of Congress.’” “No Congress can commit another Congress to budget,” Beyer said in an interview. “But we can do the congressional equivalent.”īeyer, who was elected head of the House space panel last week, said he is eager to talk to the full committee leaders “right away” about passing a congressional resolution to show bipartisan support for funding the remainder of the Mars Sample Return effort, a three-part mission that’s expected to cost about $4 billion, in addition to the $2.7 billion already spent on the Perseverance rover. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who chairs the House space subcommittee, said in reference to Kennedy’s moonshot speech that birthed the Apollo program. We can’t be John Kennedy and say ‘at the end of the decade,’” Rep. But some space leaders on Capitol Hill hope to change that and give the Mars Sample Return Mission a better shot at outliving any one congressional term.
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