NASA currently has several missions, including the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I), Glenn Research Center’s Icing Research, the James Webb Space Telescope, and Dawn. However, NASA is not the only force in space, as seen by the progress of several private companies. NASA’s budget could be the key to change within NASA’s programs.
One NASA mission in exploration is the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Opportunity was launched on July 07, 2003, at 11:18 p.m. EDT, landed on Mars on January 25, 2004, at 04:54 UTC, and is still roaming the planet today. It was launched with the intention of “traversing the Red Planet in search of signs of past life” (Nelson). Opportunity has discovered proof of a section
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The experiment is testing fire growth in microgravity by setting large fires in empty resupply vehicles after they leave the station. Onboard instruments measure the fire growth, oxygen use, etc., and the mission is also hoping to help safeguard future space missions (Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I)). Not including the cost of the launch, the cost of the mission is $24 million (Crane). The International Space Station, which appears to be in the domain of Exploration Research and Technology/LEO and Spaceflight Operations, costs $1,450.9 million in the 2017 fiscal year (FY 2019 Budget …show more content…
The telescope is comprised of “a 22-foot-tall honeycomb arrangement of 18 mirrors, fashioned out of lightweight beryllium and plated in gold” (Koren). Unfortunately, the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has faced several delays and may go over its $8.8 billion budget. Also, if anything goes wrong after the launch, it will be unable to receive any repair crews and will essentially become space junk. However, the advantage of the telescope is that it is “100 more times powerful than Hubble” and “will be able to see deeper into the universe than ever before” (Koren). The 2017 fiscal year budget for Exploration Research and Technology, as previously mentioned, is $826.5 million (FY 2019 Budget