https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nasa-space-mars/2022/07/29/id/1080993/
Mars. (Martin Holverda/Dreamstime.com)
By Luca Cacciatore | Friday, 29 July 2022 04:47 PM EDT
The first authorization of NASA funding to pass Congress in more than five years will include an extension to the Moon to Mars Program, Space News reported on Friday.
Tucked within the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act was the much smaller NASA Authorization Act of 2022, permitting an extension of several of the agency's programs without revealing specific dollar amounts.
"This act shows continued bipartisan support of NASA's many missions, including our Moon to Mars approach, as well extension of U.S. participation in the International Space Station to 2030," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote in a statement.
The legislation also details that NASA will use its Space Launch System to send the first humans to Mars for an "orbital mission and a human mission to the surface."
Congress last authorized NASA funding and programs in the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017. Before that, there was a seven-year gap in funding for the space agency.
However, some Congress members have taken issue with the placement of the authorization in the CHIPS Act.
Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., ranking member of the House Science Committee, said the NASA appropriations should be in a separate bill, untied from the more controversial domestic semiconductor funding.
"For better or for worse — and it's very clearly for the worse — the CHIPS and Science Act has been irrevocably tied to a massive tax hike and spending spree in reconciliation," Lucas said on the floor.
The semiconductor bill passed quickly with bipartisan support regardless, and NASA already appears to be taking advantage of the new funding.
On Wednesday, the agency revealed plans to send two additional robotic choppers to Mars in 2027 as part of an effort to collect samples that might indicate ancient signs of life on the Red Planet, the Daily Mail reported.
The samples will then be collected by the Mars Sample Return mission, according to the outlet.
