Congress Could Make A Manned Mission To Mars Mandatory

Senator Bill Nelson introduced the bill in Congress along with five other senators, including Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. “The impact in terms of jobs lost, the impact in terms of money wasted has been significant”.

The Senate passed a bipartisan bill that authorizes a new $19.5 billion budget for Nasa to send a crew to the red planet, but mandates it must happen within the next 25 years.

CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, today joined other industry leaders in supporting the 2016 NASA Transition Authorization Act (S. 3346). The budget allotted is the same as what was approved by House appropriators and a bit more than the version released by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Coalition also notes that a number of Senators offered bipartisan amendments to strengthen the bill, including a measure by Senator Cory Garner (R-CO) to ensure NASA has authority to plan for annual Exploration Missions in the space around the Moon and moving out toward Mars.

The legislation would authorize money for different NASA components, including $4.5 billion for exploration, almost $5 billion for space operations and $5.4 billion for science.

“As a new Administration enters office in 2017”, says Casey Dreier, director of space policy at The Planetary Society, “this bill could help provide important continuity for NASA’s efforts to send humans to Mars and search for life beyond Earth”.

The bill allocates funds for different components: $4.5 billion on exploration, almost $5 billion for space operations, and $5.4 billion for science.

This bill also blocks the incoming USA president from up heaving the nation’s space program.

That’s NASA’s plan already, though it’ll take 20 years. Bill Nelson, senior Democrat on the Commerce panel. “The priorities that we’ve laid out for NASA in this bill mark the beginning of a new era of American spaceflight”, said an optimistic Florida Sen.

The Senate also views this solid bill as way to block the incoming U.S. president from up heaving the nation’s space program, reports USA Today.