NASA Doesn't Have the Money to Land on Mars by the 2030s

NASA Doesn't Have the Money to Land on Mars by the 2030s

For years we've been hearing that NASA plans to send a manned mission to Mars. The ideal time for this would be a period when Earth and Mars orbit close to each other for both the "to" and back" trips, and just such a period of "Mars Close Approach" will arrive in the 2033 to 2035 time frame. In preparation for this proximity, Boeing (NYSE: BA), one of the key contractors building NASA's new Mars-capable Space Launch System, laid out a six-step program in March 2016 describing how the trip will go -- and when.

But that was then, and this is now. Now, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration, William Gerstenmaier, admits that NASA might not have the money it needs to go to Mars by the 2030s -- or at all.

Destination: Mars. But it will cost NASA a bundle to get there. Image source: Getty Images.

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Source: Fool.com