The US Space Program: Who Is Paying for It?

Explorations of Mars help to massage a national spirit. This is particularly true in America, the moonwalker nation that, after the end of the space shuttle program, is looking for new goals. The national pride of America has been attacked since the U.S. is now dependent on its former nemesis Russia for a ride into outer space.

Even if Mission Curiosity began satisfying NASA’s needs today, it still would not mean much. Money for manned missions to Mars, which President Barack Obama thinks will be possible in 20 years at the latest, is not available anywhere in the heavily indebted superpower’s budget.

Even smaller projects on the red planet like the collaborative projects planned for 2016 and 2018 between NASA and the European Space Agency have fallen victim to budgetary constraints. The successor of the essential Hubble Space Telescope will probably have to wait until 2020.

Even in America, where the pursuits of the “new frontiers” of the universe are part of the collective DNA, one question is becoming more and more important: Given the issues of climate change, hunger, poverty and terrorism, are there not more pressing problems to solve than finding out the consistency of rocks on Mars?

Critics of this question argue that such missions need no tangible benefits because the human pioneering spirit alone justifies them. That may be. Travel broadens the mind. And with every piece of the universe that we explore, we come to understand ourselves better. Just one curious question: Who’s paying for it?