An astronaut in space flashes a thumbs-up sign. NASA/ESA

For the first time in more than six years, both chambers of Congress passed a bill that approves funding for NASA and gives the space agency new mandates.

The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 is a bill that the Senate and House collaborated on for months, and it appropriates $19.5 billion to the agency. (NASA received $19.3 billion in 2016, or 0.5% of the total federal budget.)

When the Senate brought the bill before the House of Representatives for a vote on March 7, "no members spoke against the bill" and it passed, according to Jeff Foust at Space News.

The document asks NASA to create a roadmap for getting humans "near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s." It also calls on the space agency to continue developing the Space Launch System (SLS) — a behemoth rocket — and the Orion space capsule in order to eventually go to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

An illustration of the Space Launch System taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center Now it's up to President Trump to sign the bill into law — or veto it.

Business Insider did not immediately receive a response from Trump administration officials about the president's plans for the new bill.

But its passage seems likely.

Trump has expressed support for a crewed exploration of Mars, and in his inauguration speech he said he's "ready to unlock the mysteries of space." Administration officials, meanwhile, have said they want NASA to return to the moon in the 2020s but also proposed to end the space agency's 58-year mandate to study the Earth and its climate, details the bill leaves out.

Trump also maintains a relatively tight collaboration with the Republican-controlled legislative branch.

What's in NASA's proposed budget?

NASA

The American Astronomical Society has a convenient breakdown of the $19.5 billion in the bill, including funding for human space exploration, space-station operations, science, and more.

Here are some notable titles, articles, and sections of the 146-page document:</s>Both the Senate and the House have approved a bill that will send $19.508 billion to NASA and sets some very ambitious directives. All that’s standing between the space agency and getting to work is a presidential sign off.



According to Space News, the bill received no vocal opposition on the floor of the House despite its $208 million increase of the budget from 2016. The Senate gave its unanimous approval on February 17th.

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Among other things, the budget demands that NASA create a plan to put humans “near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s.” Most specifically, the bill mandates “a human exploration roadmap should begin with low-Earth orbit, then address in greater detail progress beyond low-Earth orbit to cis-lunar space, and then address future missions aimed at human arrival and activities near and then on the surface of Mars.” The section on Mars also instructs NASA to move away from its Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission and to find ways to apply the progress on that project to the Mars directive.

What else is in the bill? A lot. It’s 146 pages long. Let’s just run through some of the highlights that jump out. The plan to send a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa is approved. A vague directive for NASA “to expand permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit” is included under long-term goals along with a call for “a thriving space economy in the 21st Century.” And missions to launch the SLS and Orion spacecraft without a crew are set for 2018. A crewed mission that would go to the moon would come next, with a goal of it happening in 2021.

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On the more practical end of things, the bill asks NASA to work on building hypersonic and supersonic aircraft that would “enable new transportation capabilities.” It also asks the agency to develop a plan to enhance its cybersecurity protections. An interesting inclusion considering the recent episode in which a scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently had his work phone compromised by border agents.

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There’s a lot of exciting stuff in the bill. It’s not necessarily calling for things that NASA hasn’t already been working on, but its reassuring to see deadlines, a budget increase and ambitious support coming out of congress.

In regards to that presidential signature, there is a possibility that Trump would veto this bill. The administration has indicated that it wants to eliminate the Earth Science division of NASA that studies climate change among other things. The bill that passed today doesn’t mention that at all. So, maybe Trump will just forget that was part of his agenda. The good news is he paid lip service to space exploration in his recent address to congress and he also has a lot of bigger problems to worry about at the moment.

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[U.S. Congress via Space News]</s>For the first time in more than 6 years, both chambers of Congress passed a bill that approves funding for NASA and gives the space agency new mandates.

The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 is a bill the Senate and House collaborated on for months, and it appropriates $19.508 billion to the space agency. (NASA received $19.3 billion in 2016, or 0.5% of the total federal budget.)

When the Senate brought the bill before the House of Representatives for a vote on March 7, "no members spoke against the bill" and it passed, according to Jeff Foust at Space News.

The document asks NASA to create a roadmap for getting humans "near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s." It also calls on the space agency to continue developing the Space Launch System (SLS) — a behemoth rocket — and the Orion space capsule in order to eventually go to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

Now it's up to President Donald J. Trump to sign the bill into law — or veto it.

Business Insider did not immediately receive a response from Trump administration officials about the president's plans for the new bill.

However, its passage seems likely.

President Trump has expressed support for a crewed exploration of Mars, and in his inauguration speech, he said he's "ready to unlock the mysteries of space." Administration officials, meanwhile, have said they want NASA to return to the moon in the 2020s but also proposed to end the space agency's 58-year mandate to study the Earth and its climate — details the bill conveniently leaves out.

Trump also maintains a relatively tight collaboration with the Republican-controlled legislative branch.

The American Astronomical Society has a convenient breakdown of the $19.508 billion in the bill, including funding for human space exploration, space station operations, science, and more.

Here are some notable titles, articles, and sections of the 146-page document:
• "Assuring Core Capabilities For Exploration" — calls for several missions: an uncrewed launch of SLS and Orion in 2018, followed by a crewed mission to the moon in 2021, and further trips to the moon and Mars after that date
• "Journey to Mars" — asks NASA for a roadmap to send people to Mars by 2033; also steers the space agency away from pursuing the Asteroid Redirect Mission (a plan to capture an asteroid, tow it into orbit around Earth, and have astronauts explore the space rock)
• "Human Space Flight And Exploration Goals And Objectives" — says it's the mission of NASA to "to expand permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit"
• "Aeronautics" — calls on NASA to be a leader in aviation and hypersonic aircraft research; also asks the space agency to look into supersonic aircraft research that would "open new global markets and enable new transportation capabilities"
• "Mars 2020 rover" — Congress backs up NASA's plan to use the car-sized rover to "help determine whether life previously existed on that planet"
• "Europa" — approves of NASA's plan to send a probe to Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa, which may have a warm subsurface ocean (and possibly host alien life)
• "Congressional declaration of policy and purpose" — amends previous laws to make it part of NASA's mission to "search for life's origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe"
• "Extrasolar planet exploration strategy" — asks NASA to explain how it will use the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments to hunt for exoplanets
• "Near-Earth objects" — asks NASA to accelerate its program to find killer asteroids in space
• "Radioisotope power systems" — implores NASA to deliver a report on how it plans to make plutonium-238 — an exceedingly rare nuclear fuel for deep-space robots — and detail what its nuclear-powered exploration plans are</s>We’ve all done it. We’ve all seen something ridiculous, maybe a terrible reality show, maybe an awful political event, and muttered to ourselves “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.” It might surprise you that Congress feels the same way, as they’ve approved NASA’s budget and told it to go to Mars.

Considering the budget cuts the current administration is doling out, it’s a bit surprising that NASA’s budget has passed both the House and Senate and just needs the executive to sign off on it. Doubly so, really, because the last NASA appropriations bill that got through both houses passed in 2010. But if it does so, there’s a host of interesting policy initiatives. First of all, Congress wants NASA on Mars by the 2030s, which will grab the most headlines, but is a pretty strong policy endorsement for a Mars mission. No doubt Elon Musk’s Mars mission had something to do with this. They also want NASA back on the Moon by 2021.

More generally, though, the bill is salted with interesting orders. NASA is ordered to track the long-term health of astronauts, explore the ability of humans to colonize beyond Earth’s orbit in general, and has been asked to build more hypersonic and supersonic aircraft for transportation purposes. The biggest question, though, is what might happen to NASA’s climate change research; the words “climate change” are nowhere in the bill.</s>The soft disclosures just keep on coming… See the related links at the end of the article for information on the existing Mars Colony and related information. — Editor

The colonization of Mars has been the fantasy of sci-fi writers and scientists alike for perhaps a century or more. Now, these dreams are a step closer to becoming reality, under radical plans unveiled by NASA that would see a magnetic field being used to reduce radiation levels, one of the primary barriers to human exploration of the planet.

The reasons for Mars’ mesmeric hold on the human imagination are obvious. Its surface conditions make it the most hospitable planet for humans in the Solar System bar Earth. The planet is similar to Earth in many ways, too — a Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds, Mars’ surface area is 28.4% of Earth’s (only slightly less than the amount of dry land on Earth), and the planet’s similar axial tilt means it has seasons much like Earth’s — although they are nearly twice as long, as a Martian year is about 1.88 Earth years.

Moreover, Mars ranks just behind Venus as the easiest planet to reach from Earth — although Venus’ extreme conditions (such as a surface temperature of 462 °C; 863 °F) likely preclude it from ever hosting human life.

As technology has advanced, and anxieties about the future prospects for humanity on Earth have increased, the race for space colonization has gained momentum. Many astronomers, scientists and businesses have for years worked to see if colonization missions to the planet would ever succeed. Despite its similarities to Earth, the planet is still inimical to human life, with sub-Antarctic temperatures all year round, an atmosphere is composed of roughly 95 percent carbon dioxide, 0.13 percent oxygen, and minor traces of water, nitrogen oxide, neon, hydrogen-deuterium-oxygen, krypton, and xenon.

Frozen water almost certainly exists under the surface, which could be an invaluable resource for colonies — although visitors would still have to live with high levels of radiation, as well as constant, violent iron dust storms.

However, NASA has outlined a way of making Mars much more habitable — and in the process taken a significant step towards allowing human exploration of the planet. Presented at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop, the proposal would see the deployment of a magnetic shield around the planet that could act as a barrier to radiation, and reduce the need for extreme protective equipment. It relies on the theory that over four billion years ago, the planet’s magnetic field suddenly vanished — over the course of the next 500 million years, Mars mutated from a warmer, wetter environment to the cold, uninhabitable husk seen today.

Without returning some kind of magnetic field to Mars, this situation will not change, and indeed could worsen. NASA Planetary Science Division Director Dr. Jim Green said that by placing a magnetic dipole shield at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point, a man-made magnetosphere could cradle the entire planet.

The team says previous tests in lab conditions suggest inflatable structures could generate a magnetic dipole field at a level of perhaps one or two Tesla, protecting against both radiation and solar winds. Such a field could even result in Mars’ atmosphere thickening over time, creating a greenhouse effect, which would increase the planet’s surface temperature by up to four degrees, and melt northern polar ice caps — restoring Mars’ oceans in the process.

These improved conditions, Dr. Green argued, would allow for human explorers to study the planet in much greater detail, and help determine its habitability, since many of the elements that pointed towards Mars being habitable in the past would slowly seep back into and onto the planet’s environment.

Those eager to buy their ticket to a liveable Mars may have to be patient. Dr. Ruth Bamford from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Oxford University, who attended the Workshop, acknowledges the idea sounds “fanciful” — the proposal formed part of a “thought experiment” in any event. Although, she adds that the underlying physics are “entirely sound.”

“We’re trying to inspire people to imagine what we would need to do to colonize Mars. We’re seeing how computer simulations can cope with a challenge beyond their usual abilities to perform. We will need to conduct extensive computer simulations, and constantly refine them, to produce accurate assessments of how long the changes would take — and how much the project would cost. It will be immensely expensive, a huge investment. Although if we as a species plan to inhabit Mars, we need to dedicate vast resources to that project anyway,” Dr. Bamford told Sputnik.

By the time mankind launch the magnetic field — which won’t happen before 2050 at least — humans will, Dr. Bamford suggests, already be visiting Mars regularly, with crews establishing infrastructure and building colonies. There’ll be large vessels traveling between the two planets, and scientists could assemble the field in transit.

“We’re developing fusion on Earth, which means a lot of things will change in the next 20-30 years. The possibility of such projects will become much more credible. If you look backwards, 50 years ago, people’s imaginations were leaping, and coming up with what we see today. Mars is a place we can envisage humanity living on. It’ll never be quite like Earth, but it’s the planet we’d most likely be able to live on,” Dr. Bamford concluded.

This article (NASA Brings Mankind One Step Closer to Mars Colonization) was originally published on Sputnik News and syndicated by The Event Chronicle.

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Former NASA employee claims to have seen Men walking on Mars in 1979

A Dome on Mars: The Opportunity rover captures the most mysterious image of the red planet</s>This is exciting! The House and Senate approved the NASA’s budget and even gave the Space Program some major goals including a mission to Mars! See what other space milestones we could be witnessing here!

We’re going to Mars! Well that’s what the United States Congress is hoping for. The The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 has been approved by both the House and the Senate on Mar. 9 and is the first NASA appropriations to be approved since 2010, according to UPROXX. Massive budget cuts have kept NASA from getting their budgets approved in recent years. Congress gave out a $19.508 billion budget for NASA’s 2017 fiscal year. That’s a hefty chunk of change that now just awaits approval from the executive office aka President Trump, 70.

Among the 146 page bill, are plans to send a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa and more missions to launch SLS and Orion spacecraft without crews. NASA also wants to examine the long-term health of former astronauts who have returned from previous missions to space. Perhaps the most exciting bit to come out of NASA’s 2017 budget is the fact Congress wants to send a human to Mars by 2039. That’s only 22 years away!

To top off the news that NASA and Congress want to send people to Mars, they also want to send another person to the Moon. They’re looking to make this a reality before sending someone to Mars. We could watch another moon landing in just 4 years! NASA wants to try and get someone on the moon by 2021. That’s not far off at all!

“The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 reaffirms our support for the bold visions and commitments that will shape America’s future in space,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science Committee, said in a statement to Space News. “This bill reiterates the importance of maintaining NASA’s continuity of purpose to ensure America remains a leader in space exploration.”

HollywoodLifers, do you think we’ll see astronauts on Mars? Sound off in the comments below or in the poll to the left!</s>Is there life on Mars? There may well be by the 2030s after a bill giving NASA $20 billion for further exploration of the red planet was given the green light by Congress.

The bill, which will send $19.508billion to NASA, has been approved by both the Senate and the House and is now just waiting for Trump to give it his Presidential seal of approval, Space News reports.

The ambitious budget includes plans for humans to be “near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s,” meaning in under two decades the US is hoping to have conquered another planet.

The wording of the bill, according to Gizmodo, states that, “a human exploration roadmap should begin with low-Earth orbit, then address in greater detail progress beyond low-Earth orbit to cis-lunar space, and then address future missions aimed at human arrival and activities near and then on the surface of Mars.”

Mars isn’t the only planet in the Solar System on NASA’s hit list. There’s also a plan to send a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

This appears to be all part of their wider objective of expanding “permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit”.

They also want to establish “a thriving space economy in the 21st Century.”

It’s not completely clear what this would consist of – a Trump Tower on the moon?

It’s the first time a NASA authorization bill has been passed by both houses in over six year, the last being in 2010, but it’s comforting to know Congress is looking for an alternative for earth.

The ambitious plans were approved six months after the Schiaparelli Mars Lander touched down on the red planet in October 2016.

The mission, run by NASA’s rivals the European Space Agency, saw a probe land on the planet in a bid to search for signs of life.</s>NASA’s going to infinity and beyond — specifically, to Mars.

Both the Senate and House approved a bill that authorizes a whopping $19.508 billion in spending for NASA in 2017, a $208 million increase from 2016.

The 146-page bill is jam packed with mandates for the space agency to position the US as “a thriving space economy in the 21st century.” Most notably, it demands that NASA gets humans “near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s.” It also wants less time devoted to the Asteroid Redirect Mission in favor of focusing those efforts on getting us to Mars. ARM’s launch would have captured an asteroid and placed it in the moon’s orbit for astronauts to study.

And there’s a ton of other initiatives, including finally getting a probe to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, speeding up programs that detect apocalyptic asteroids and sending a crew to the moon by 2021.

The bill also mandates that NASA help enhance cybersecurity protections, provide a report on how they plan to make nuclear fuel for deep-space robots and develop a strategy for finding more exoplanets. The bill specifies that expanding “permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit” should be the first of the agency’s long-term goals.

In February, the Senate gave its unanimous approval and SpaceNews.com reported that the bill received zero opposition from the House. This makes it the first time a NASA spending bill has passed both chambers of Congress since The NASA Authorization Act of 2010.

But despite its backing some representatives have raised an eyebrow at the bill’s exclusion of earth science programs.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) told SpaceNews.com that, while she supported it overall, the bill wasn’t flawless. “It does not directly address all of NASA’s science programs, mainly Earth science and heliophysics.” Rep. Johnson is a ranking member of the House Science Committee.

In November, one of Trump’s senior advisers told The Guardian that the president planned to slash funding to NASA’s decades-old earth science programs, including projects dedicated to studying climate change.

NASA doesn’t comment on proposed legislation, but will likely release a statement once the bill is signed by President Donald Trump. Trump could veto it, but is expected to sign as he’s previously alluded to support for a manned mission to Mars. In his inauguration speech, he said he’s “ready to unlock the mysteries of space.”

Plus, China’s got their sights set on getting an “exploratory” mission to Mars by 2020 and is reportedly making a spaceship that could land on the moon.</s>A trip to Mars by 2033 is among the several long-term NASA goals included in a bill Congress just passed to fund the aerospace agency.

On Wednesday, the House followed the Senate’s lead by passing the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, which appropriates $19.5 billion in spending for fiscal year 2017 for exploration, space operations, science, technology, education and more.

In addition to funding, the 146-page bill aims to “extend humanity’s reach into deep space, including cis-lunar space, the Moon, the surface and moons of Mars, and beyond.”

For human spaceflight and exploration, the bill sets three long-term goals to expand a permanent presence beyond low-Earth orbit, through crewed missions for the purpose of reaching deep space, including “habitation on another celestial body and a thriving space economy in the 21st century.”

In addition, the bill asks for a human mission “near or on the surface of Mars in the 2030s,” and specifically asks for a study to be conducted on the feasibility of a human spaceflight mission to be launched in 2033.

Before the journey to Mars, NASA would be required to create a “human exploration roadmap” that would lay out their step-by-step plans for how to get humans from low-orbit Earth to Mars in that time frame.

New investments in the International Space Station (ISS) would allow the facility to continue to be utilized until at least 2024 and would make the station a jumping off point for missions to Mars.

NASA will also be provided with funding to study Jupiter’s moon, Europa, which is thought to have water, and could be able to sustain life for long periods of time. The bill also calls for a mission to its far moon, which has long been a priority for the scientific community.

Medical monitoring to study the effects space has on astronauts, including psychological conditions is included. NASA will also be allowed to provide healthcare to former astronauts for conditions resulting from their trips into space.

One of the most important provisions in the bill was a new rule that would provide sustained support to the agency, even during times of presidential transitions. NASA wants to avoid any disruptions that have occurred during presidential transitions, such as the Constellation program to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2020, which was canceled when former President Barack Obama took office.

“Past challenges to the continuity of such investments, particularly threats regarding the cancellation of authorized programs with bipartisan and bicameral support, have disrupted completion of major space systems,” the bill reads.

This bill marks the first NASA authorization to pass both houses of Congress since the NASA Authorization Act of 2010.

On Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who originally introduced the bill, said, “the future of the U.S. space program is now more secure and stable, and we have provided much-needed certainty to the missions of the International Space Station and Johnson Space Center.”

The bill is nearly identical to the one that already cleared the Senate last month, and will now go to President Donald Trump to be signed.</s>For the first time in more than 6 years, both chambers of Congress passed a bill that approves funding for NASA and gives the space agency new mandates. The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 is a bill the Senate and House collaborated on for months, and it appropriates $19.508 billion to the space agency.

Start the conversation, or Read more at SFGate.
U.S. Congress passes a bill that mandates NASA send humans to Mars by 2033.