{"id":19467,"date":"2016-02-09T18:15:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T10:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-packs-a-big-vision-for-space-exploration-into-smaller-19-billion-budget\/"},"modified":"2016-02-09T18:15:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T10:15:51","slug":"nasa-packs-a-big-vision-for-space-exploration-into-smaller-19-billion-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-packs-a-big-vision-for-space-exploration-into-smaller-19-billion-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA packs a big vision for space exploration into smaller $19 billion budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"SLS
NASA is developing a heavy-lift rocket known as the Space Launch System, shown in this artist\u2019s conception. Spending in the category that includes the SLS and the Orion deep-space capsule would be trimmed in the budget proposed for the next fiscal year. (Credit: NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christmas has come and gone, and so has a bump in NASA\u2019s spending plan: The agency\u2019s proposed $19 billion budget for the next fiscal year, released today, represents a $260 million decline from this year\u2019s level.<\/p>\n

The money set aside for developing a new crew vehicle and heavy-lift rocket for deep-space exploration would be reduced by hundreds of millions of dollars, virtually guaranteeing a tussle with Congress.<\/p>\n

Despite the reductions, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the agency\u2019s vision for space exploration and technology is undimmed.<\/p>\n

<\/span> The state of our NASA is as strong as it\u2019s ever been.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of our NASA is as strong as it\u2019s ever been \u2013 and when I say \u2018our,\u2019 I really mean it,\u201d Bolden told a gathering of agency employees at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Virginia. He used that \u201cstrong\u201d assessment as a frequent refrain for the last \u201cState of NASA\u201d address of the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

In a fact sheet, NASA said the funding levels laid out in its request for the budget year beginning in October would keep America\u2019s space effort moving toward a goal of sending astronauts toward Mars and its moons in the 2030s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget supports developing the technologies that will make future space missions more capable and affordable, partnering with the private sector to transport crew and cargo to the International Space Station, continuing the development of the Orion crew vehicle, Space Launch System and Exploration Ground Systems that will one day send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit,\u201d NASA said.<\/p>\n

NASA said the budget proposal was sufficient to support a 2020 rover landing to Mars and to launch a robotic spacecraft in the 2020s to Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter that\u2019s thought to harbor a liquid ocean. However, there were questions about how ambitious the Europa mission would be.<\/p>\n