Elon Musk Is Not Smiling Over Trump’s New NASA Budget – Futurism

This Is Not It

Today, President Trump signed legislationS.442, giving NASA more than $19.5 billion in funding as well as an ultimatum get to Mars by 2033. Notably,NASA isnt going to be dealing with the same cuts as other science and medical agencies (they areset to lose enormous portions of their budget).

This prompted Recode co-founder Kara Swisher to enthusiastically tweet at Musk, Somewhere is smiling. Musk, however, seemed anything but happy at the claim, responding: I am not. This bill changes almost nothing about what NASA is doing. Existing programs stay in place and there is no added funding for Mars.

He continued, Perhaps there will be some future bill that makes a difference for Mars, but this is not it.

Other experts tend to agree with this assesmentthat this budget is not a great leap forward, but maintaining the status quo. I think its really more of a vote for stability, notesScott Pace, who is the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

On the surface, this bill may seem promising. Trump has expressed support for a crewed exploration of Mars, and in his inauguration speech he said hes ready to unlock the mysteries of space. The 146-page legislation document calls forseveral missionsin addition to the following:

However, in addition to not securing added funds for Mars, the Trump administration recently cameunder fire about the ways in which new budgets cut NASAs Earth Science funds. According to

According to Business Insider, if enacted, that budget would cut several major space agency initiatives, including the Office of Education, and seeks to terminate the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE), Orbital Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3), Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), and CLARREO Pathfindermissions. Notably, all of these missions are directly related to Earth and its environment.

To this end, Muskwho is a strong advocate for the environment and renewable energyhas been taking some heat regarding his involvement with Trumps science advisory board. In a 2015 speech at the Sorbonne University, he urged students to talk to your politicians, ask them to enact a carbon tax and to fight the propaganda from the carbon industry.

And this was not his only call to action. At the end of the day, Musk is as much a proponent for the environment as he is for Mars. In a 2013 interview for USA Todays Innovators and Icons series, Musk stated that the current climate struggle is literally life or death: Were running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe.

It now seems that, despite Musks involvement with the Trump administration, even he cannot influence the White House in the ways hed likeand hes not happy.

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Elon Musk Is Not Smiling Over Trump's New NASA Budget - Futurism