The U.S. House on Tuesday sent a bill authorizing $19.5 billion for NASA to President Trump that sets an ambitious course for the moon and Mars.
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- READ the bill, S.442
The authorization bill won bipartisan support in the House and Senate, with Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio among the co-sponsors, and Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate Space Subcommittee as the sponsor.
The bill focuses largely on space science, space technology and aeronautics. It requires NASA to submit a roadmap for human exploration, with plans for a human mission to Mars launched in 2033. It supports the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew vehicle projects, which are under-construction and will eventually be used for deep space exploration.
It also calls for expanding partnerships and commercial work on low-Earth orbit, including with the International Space Station, which Congress says should continue until at least 2024 and possibly 2028.
The bill continues the support for private companies to send crews to the ISS, something SpaceX believes it will do in the next year.
Here's some notable items in the bill:
- Asks for a new analysis on plans to launch an Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission, which is meant to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The bill says lawmakers are not convinced the cost is worth the benefits.
- Support a Mars 2020 rover,
- Support a mission to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons
- Supports the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope
- Allows NASA to provide health care to former astronauts and government payload specialists for conditions resulting from spaceflights