NASA's first mission to Mars will be facing delay. The reason is that NASA is facing budget challenges for the mission.
Phys reported that NASA will probably delay its first two missions to Mars using the Orion capsule. A statement from the Office of Inspector General of the agency cited that NASA is facing not only technical as well as budget challenges for the realization of the mission.
It was on November 18 when the first mission of the Orion spacecraft of NASA will be launch following the plans of the Space Launch System or SLS. This will be followed by the second mission proposed in August 2021.
According to Business Standard, the foreseen reason for the delay of the NASA exploration to Mars is because of cost and budget problems with some technical challenges. A nine-month audit is said to revealed these problems for the EM-1 and EM-2 "Journey to Mars" exploration missions.
Specifically, the delay was due to the Orion service module and the technical risks of the capsule's design for Mars, wherein NASA expected as a responsibility from the European Space Agency or ESA. Furthermore, the audit claims that there is a delay in the development of software used for the SLS.
All in all, NASA expects a total cost for the exploration to Mars for the SLS at the amount of $23 billion before the end of 2018. Likewise, the exploration cost is expected to consume the amount of $33 billion by the year 2033.
The White House believe that in order for NASA to reach its goal of sending the human to Mars for an exploration in as early as the year 2030, the agency must work hard for in-space transportation, vehicles, deep space living and landing to the planet and prepare everything in 2020.
Because of the technical and financial issues faced by NASA, probably, the November 2018 EM-1 launch date for Mars exploration will not be met. Or else, NASA will work on double efforts to resolve the problems with software validation and verification along with the budget.
