These days NASA is on the congressional chopping block. Their budget was cut from $18.7 billion in 2010 to around $17.9 billion in 2011. Despite this, NASA has pledged to continue funding its most expensive flagship programs, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Space Launch System (SLS) with Orion Capsule, despite the JWST costing a third more than originally expected. The original price tag on the telescope was $6.5 billion, but that has since been revised to $8.7 billion. The senate has said JWST will get $530 million in 2012, which is around 3% of the annual budget. This is just for the JWST; the SLS will cost around $3 billion annually, which is 16.8% of the budget. These programs are immensely important for the advancement of science and discovery, but they will take up almost a fifth of NASA's overall budget annually. If NASA's funding is cut it will create uncertainty for the future of projects that were counting on NASA to fund them, but which may be deemed not important enough to continue.
If NASA funding smaller projects is such a liability, why don't those projects go elsewhere?
The simple answer: there is no real precedence. Who else has the money to fund space projects that cost millions, if not billions of dollars? If NASA decides it cannot afford to fund a sample-return mission from Mars, is there any other way for that important project to get funding? What about other important space missions and projects? If there was a viable alternative means of funding for space projects, wouldn't it have emerged already?
There are two answers, but they might take some time to digest:
If NASA funding smaller projects is such a liability, why don't those projects go elsewhere?
The simple answer: there is no real precedence. Who else has the money to fund space projects that cost millions, if not billions of dollars? If NASA decides it cannot afford to fund a sample-return mission from Mars, is there any other way for that important project to get funding? What about other important space missions and projects? If there was a viable alternative means of funding for space projects, wouldn't it have emerged already?
There are two answers, but they might take some time to digest:
