Ridley Scott’s space epic The Martian had American’s realistically thinking of a NASA Mars landing. Well, that fictional tale will remain fiction, at least for the U.S. Amongst high pressure and budget cuts, it’s not looking like the space agency will be getting to the red planet anytime soon. Across the world, China will likely beat everyone there. Perhaps Russia will assist in the monumental exploration as well.
U.S SENATE ALL TALK; CUTS NASA FUNDING
It once seemed that the US Senate was in favor of sending a man to Mars. They’ve walked around, chins up high, claiming to protect NASA and represent the future of the organizations space exploration. Well despite this perceived support, the U.S Senate’s new budget request won’t be helping NASA soon. With the Space Launch System rocket under way in Alabama, the space agency was looking for a certain level of funding in order for completion, however, the Senate has all but complied. Even if they could get their rockets to launch, NASA still needs to undergo a series of tests for landing heavy objects on Mars. That’s not possible if they can’t get off Earth to begin with. For now, it looks like any serious exploration goals will be set aside, as the new leaders in space take the reigns.
CHINA TO WIN THE MARS SPACE RACE
The best chance that the U.S has of getting to Mars first is through the private spaceflight company SpaceX. That being said, even they will have a hard time beating the influx of private space startups in China. For example, Onespace, supported by the National Defense Science in China plans to have a launch date of 2018 with the goal of dropping a 500 kg satellite into orbit. Soon after that, China’s Onespace will be planning a manned mission to Mars before SpaceX can think about colonizing. It looks like the future of the space race rests in privatized hands. China is hardly the only one in the game. Russia has their own version of private space explorers as well.
RUSSIA’S BILLIONAIRE TO FIND GOD
Forget about going to the red planet, Russia has plans far beyond that. In cahoots with Stephen Hawking Russia’s space savvy billionaire Yuri Milner wants to fund a $100 million initiative for exploring the closest star system. The revolutionary concept will feature tiny, spacecraft powered by light that will reach Alpha Centauri in just 20 years. It should be noted Russia’s space agency has nothing to do with this. In fact, they are having financial troubles of their own like NASA. This is yet just another example of how the future of space will lie in the hands of a few. Let’s hope they share.
