Washington (DC) - In the United States, all funding appropriations must originate in the U.S. of House of Representatives.  According to NewScientist, a recent annual budget for NASA includes specific wording precluding any funding for future manned missions to Mars.


On January 14, 2004, President Bush proposed an extended Moon-Mars Program.  It consisted of three primary goals which ultimately feed into achieving the unspecified fourth goal.  The first was to complete the International Space Station (ISS) by 2010.  The second was to develop and test a new spacecraft called "Crew Exploration Vehicle" by 2008 with manned missions in the vehicle no later than 2014.  And the third was to return to the moon with manned missions by 2020.  The moon would then serve as a waystation on our way to Mars.

A poll taken about the same time in 2004 indicated that 55% of Americans preferred that any "extra money" the U.S. had be spent on Earth-related things, such as fixing leaky roofs in schools, new libraries, fixing our roads, etc.

Since then, several other countries, including China and India, have also proclaimed interests in manned missions to Luna.  Ideas of moon-bases, mining and space tourism top the list of reasons why many want to go there.  However, for the United States it is a practical matter in addressing President Bush's unspecified timeline goal of "taking the next steps to exploration:  human missions to Mars and to world's beyond."

On Saturday, NewScientist reported that NASA's annual budget includes provisions which specifically "[ban] the funding of anything related to the human exploration of Mars," choosing to opt instead for robotic and unmanned remote exploration funding.  It is unclear who introduced this particular provision, but in 2006 Dave Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat now chairing the House Appropriations Committee, supported a similar ban which was outvoted by the then Republican controlled House.

President Bush's 2004 outline gave us a clear a path.  It went like this:  ISS, new spaceship, Moon.  And from there, Mars and the world's beyond.  With funding blocked for future manned Mars missions, President Bush's vision may not see the light of day.  Man's hopes, at least those tied to space endeavors, will be spent watching machines go where man once dreamed to be.

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