NASA budget 'hard to fit and still have an exploration program'

Budgetary constraints are keeping NASA's space exploration programs grounded. Planned trips to the moon and to Mars are under funded.

Scant budgets have hit NASA so deeply that the agency will most likely not be able to return to the moon - much less consider manned trips to Mars. "The $108 billion program to return to the moon by 2020 was started five years ago by then-President George W. Bush," the Associated Press reported. "But a special independent panel commissioned by President Barack Obama concluded that the plan cannot work on the existing budget schedule because it's likely to cost at least an extra $30 billion through 2020." The Obama panel explored other space program options as alternatives to a return to the moon. The team explored a manned trip to Mars or to an asteroid or a broader orbit within space, but the core recommendation was to remain within the original budget. "If you want to do something, you have to have the money to do it," said panel member and former astronaut Sally Ride, according to AP. "This budget is very, very, very hard to fit and still have an exploration program." The White House is considering a number of options, including outsourcing to private enterprise. "The options that face the White House come down to variations and combinations of these themes: Pay more, do less or radically change American space policy. The most radical idea would be to hand much of NASA's duties to private companies," AP reported. The decision is in the hands of President Obama. "While the Bush administration cut some spending, the 'real killer' came in Obama's first budget, which starts in October, said Scott Pace, the No. 3 at NASA during the Bush administration. Obama cut $3 billion from projections for future spending on exploration, with even more cut when inflation is factored in, said Pace, director of space policy at George Washington University," according to AP.