Bill Nelson, a U. S. astronaut and Florida Senator, expressed concern that with NASA's current budget and President Donald Trump's plans to return to the moon, the landing of humans on Mars will be delayed until 2050, if at all. Writes about this Phys.org.
The United States intended to send astronauts to the Red Planet by 2030, but so far NASA does not have a detailed plan, the development of which has already been overdue by seven months. This is partly due to the fact that Trump is going to re-launch the lunar program designed to test technologies and spacecraft that will be useful in the future for flights to Mars. The predecessor of the current US President Barack Obama previously canceled the Constellation space program, which provides for manned flights to the moon, explaining that it is necessary to focus on Mars.
Lack of funding is another problem. In 2009, the Augustine Commission, set up to look at problems in the manned spaceflight industry, announced that NASA would need to increase its budget by $ 3 billion to send a man to the Moon or Mars. While the development of a space program at a lower cost has been undertaken, the National Academy of Sciences has calculated that in this case, the flight to Mars will take place no earlier than 2050.
In 2017, Congress demanded from NASA a phased plan for a manned mission to Mars, which the space agency still does not have. According to Chris Carberry, chief executive of Explore Mars, international and commercial partners can help the United States reach the Red Planet, but they fear the authorities will constantly change priorities.
Carberry also notes that in order to land humans on Mars in 2030, it is necessary to begin the simultaneous development of about ten different technologies as soon as possible, including devices capable of soft landing on the surface of Mars and returning to Earth. This also requires long-term planning.