NASA has asked the US government for $24 billion in funding for the fiscal year 2022. Legislators are now debating the request this month.
According to The Register, the hefty budget is still over $760.2 million, a little less than their initial request but slightly higher than their budget of $23.3 billion last year.
How Much Money Would NASA Get For Human Landing System
Although Congress's proposal does not entirely finance the President's budget request, there are a few projects that House and Senate members have agreed to support fully.
The measure would provide the full $1.195 billion requested by NASA for its human landing system.
As part of NASA's Artemis mission, which aims to send the first woman and person of color to the Moon, the agency is now constructing a new human lunar lander.
According to The Verge, Congress has previously shown reluctance to provide NASA with the funds it asked for the lander. Appropriators only allocated $850 million of the $3.4 billion sought for the lander in 2021.
NASA altered its Artemis plans as a result of the funding shortage. Initially, NASA wanted to select at least two private businesses to develop human lunar landers for Artemis to stimulate competition and ensure redundancy.
With only a quarter of the funding available, NASA chose only one firm, SpaceX, to convert their Starship rocket into a lander, citing the company's low cost as a major factor in its selection.
Funding For Other Space Missions
Suppose they are successful in obtaining the $24 billion bag. In that case, they want to spend a significant portion of it ($7.6 billion) on the following:
- Studying the Solar System $3.1 billion
- Earth monitoring science projects: $2 billion
- Exploring beyond the Solar System: $1.4 billion
- Studying the Sun: $778 million
- Biological sciences: $83 million
The remaining funds will be utilized to maintain ongoing missions and these initiatives.
This involves working out how to get the Perseverance Rover's Mars samples back to Earth and developing new spacecraft for future missions.
NASA plans to spend an additional $6.8 billion on exploration endeavors, including the agency's most ambitious programs like returning humans to the moon and landing them for the first time on Mars.
They'll also have to pay the salaries of their seasoned, well-trained employees.
NASA Funding Explained
NASA is a non-profit government agency that receives virtually all of its financing from the United States government. According to Planetary.org, the present government submits a budget, which Congress must subsequently approve.
If and when the budget plan is accepted, the President will have to sign it before the fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. NASA's funding will be placed on hold if the plan is not approved on time. The agency receives all of its funding from the United States' yearly federal budget, which Congress also approves.
It's unclear whether NASA obtains part of its funding from other sources such as commercial contracts, investments in other businesses, or even wealthy individual donors. Still, one thing is certain: the organization can spend billions upon billions on its programs.
Why Space Missions Cost So Much
The cost breakdown was easy, according to Investopedia. Hundreds of highly talented and experienced professionals, including engineers, scientists, programmers, and even independent contractors, were hired by NASA to organize the entire trip and create the technology for it, sometimes from scratch. Curiosity was created by a team of workers from 12 different nations who worked practically nonstop.
Another thing to consider: while $2.5 billion for a single mission may seem excessive, keep in mind that the Curiosity mission was stretched out over an eight-year period, from 2012 to 2020. That works out to almost $312 million every year.
For instance, the United States alone spent $56.9 billion on video games in 2020. When you look at it from that viewpoint, you'll see how little money was spent on the expedition in the first place.
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