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H-K_47 t1_j1jzlvu wrote

> Earth science is a top priority for President Joe Biden, and the budget provides $2.2 billion (6 percent more than last year's funding) to address climate research priorities. An additional $935 million is provided for aeronautics, which includes improving airplane fuel efficiency and conducting research and development for electric propulsion.

> Then there is $3.2 billion provided for planetary science. Roughly a quarter of this, $822 million, is for the Mars Sample Return mission where NASA and the European Space Agency are partnering to bring Martian rocks back to Earth in the early to mid 2030s. Dreier said this program is at a crucial stage of development, and Congress is providing a level of funding greater than what NASA's entire Heliophysics division is receiving to study the sun ($805 million).

> "Congress is willing to fund ambitious exploration missions," Dreier said. "Those are the projects that got the funding they needed."

> Lawmakers also recognized the importance of the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, a space telescope that would help NASA discover potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit. The White House budget had requested $40 million — down from NASA's planned 2023 budget of $174.2 million — but Congress allocated $90 million for this planetary science mission.

Good to see lots of stuff is getting funded. Tho it doesn't seem like the small increase is enough to counter inflation this year. But lots of projects are getting the go ahead, so we'll see great results over the years. Artemis, Mars Sample Return, etc. plenty to look forward to.

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tandjmohr t1_j1kfyh3 wrote

You are correct. The increase is not enough to cover inflation and well under what NASA asked for to simply continue on with its current projects.

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megjake t1_j1kscz3 wrote

I really wish we had a more direct say in what our taxes went towards. Idk how popular nasa is with your average voter but I know personally I would be voting for a much bigger budget for the agency.

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bookers555 t1_j1lrtxf wrote

Not much, sadly. Even during the height of the space race, when the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, not even half of the population in the US approved of the Apollo program.

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Ylossss t1_j1lyxxz wrote

This explains how some people felt about the Apollo program back then. https://youtu.be/goh2x_G0ct4

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bookers555 t1_j1lzuzx wrote

The thing is, it's the same kind of ignorance as today, people think space travel is exclusively about sending weird looking machines to space, and don't know of the technology we use all the time these days that wouldn't exist, or would be far less advanced if space exploration didn't force us to develop them.

Not to mention the money spent by NASA is negligible compared to the vast majority of government institutions. Lost count how many people think the 25 billion NASA gets every year would make a difference, when the US already spends upwards of a trillion on welfare.

Not to mention just for the sake of exploration, wish more people understood how fascinating it is that we are working towards letting humans live in places and environments that our bodies can't withstand, how interesting it is the act of overcoming our own nature.

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The_Masturbatician t1_j1murai wrote

it is about jobs and economics. this is the world we live in.

space tech stacks were invented to hurl nuke missles. thats what us was made for. billions n billions for weapons n jobs for nerds. your opinion is beyond child level naieve.

any funding to nasa is first b fore.ost to support those aims.

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quiet_locomotion t1_j1nf18r wrote

Fuckin Space Force got the same budget as NASA, and that doesn't include the NRO mission.

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Magneto88 t1_j1lscs7 wrote

If you did NASA would probably get budget cuts. Unfortunately a lot of people buy into the stupid ‘why spend money on space when we have problems on earth’ thinking.

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megjake t1_j1m5bm5 wrote

Which is so unfortunate because NASA does a lot of earth related research and development too. I mean this new budget even has money said aside for climate related research.

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Trek_Quasi7 t1_j1n1gcc wrote

Not sure who you are but I really appreciate you for saying that :). In college so many of my peers shit on nasa without realizing how helpful their research in space and on earth has helped millions of people on this planet. They def deserve more!

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TerpenesByMS t1_j1nl30h wrote

Especially NEO surveyor, file that one under "for the benefit of all humanity", deserving of funds on the first priority pass, no expenses spared! At least they gave it enough to keep the lights on.

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A_Slovakian t1_j1km9dk wrote

As a NASA contractor working on a 20 year old earth science mission I’m glad the budget is large. My job was in jeopardy but I think I’ll be safe now :)

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Ecuni t1_j1kph65 wrote

Large? This is sarcasm?

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A_Slovakian t1_j1lwi82 wrote

Not intentionally, but a lot of things that I’m excited about are getting funded, and my personal job is going to get funded, which I’m obviously happy about. Obviously, I’d love it if NASA’s budget was 5 times this, but that’s unrealistic.

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