NASA has long said it would be able to send a manned mission to Mars, sometime during the 2030s. Now, in a bombshell announcement, the space agency has admitted it can't afford the price tag. <\/p>\n
On July 12, during a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, NASA's William Gerstenmaier, the agency's chief of human spaceflight, said the funds just are not there for a mission. <\/p>\n
VICE PRESIDENT PENCE CALLS FOR RETURN TO THE MOON, BOOTS ON MARS <\/p>\n
\"I can't put a date on humans on Mars, and the reason really is ... at the budget levels we described, this roughly 2 percent increase, we don't have the surface systems available for Mars,\" Gerstenmaier said, according to anArs Technicareport. \"And that entry, descent and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars.\" <\/p>\n
NASA could not be reached for additional comment for this story. <\/p>\n
For the 2017 fiscal year, NASA has a budget of $19.5 billion, a figure that many scientists have cried is inadequate. <\/p>\n
The proposed total Federal budget for 2018 is $4.1 trillion.<\/p>\n
For several years, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has derided NASA's budget. <\/p>\n
NASA DEBUNKS ANONYMOUS CLAIM OF ALIEN LIFE DISCOVERY <\/p>\n
The cost of a manned mission to Mars has varied greatly in recent years. In 2012, the head of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Brent Sherwood, said it could cost approximately $100 billion over 30 or 40 years. Director of the Mars Institute Pascal Lee recently said it could cost up to $1 trillion over 25 years. <\/p>\n
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has also come up with a cost for a manned mission to Mars. He estimates it would initially cost $10 billion per person to get a colony up and running, but believes the cost could drop to $200,000, according to a paper published by Musk in June 2017. <\/p>\n
Part of the cost drop could be reusable rockets, something SpaceX and Musk have been working on perfecting. <\/p>\n
Using private industry may be the way to go for humanity to get to Mars, at least according to some in the Trump administration. <\/p>\n
Vice President Mike Pence recently said, \"American business is on the cutting edge of space technology.\" <\/p>\n
Pence has also spoken at NASA, calling for a return to the Moon, saying, \"America will lead in space once again.\" <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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NASA bombshell: Government agency admits it can't pay for humans to go to Mars - Fox News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA has long said it would be able to send a manned mission to Mars, sometime during the 2030s. Now, in a bombshell announcement, the space agency has admitted it can't afford the price tag. Continue reading