US President Obama Ends Term With Ungranted Mars Exploration Over Asteroid Mission; Elon Musk Seconds Call For Mars Mission

United States' Barack Obama's presidential term is about to end, while the congress is planning to modify plans in the country's space priorities. The congress, however, is giving instructions for the space agency to return to the moon.

In the earlier years, the US is planning for an asteroid mission before a trip to Mars in 2030, the moon mission is not included. They wanted to test their capability in an attempt to explore Mars. However, NASA's asteroid mission was scrutinized by many. The space agency demanded a $66.7 million dollar fund in 2016 for the mission, but the House Legislation denied the request, Perfscience reported. Hence, the space agency was asked to go for a lunar mission instead.

Obama's administration prioritized the asteroid mission by 2025 and a mission to Mars next in line in 2030. However, this will constitute to a major shift and the asteroid retrieval mission is indefinite with not enough interest from its own members, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

Explorers that can manage the moon are the current priority before taking risks with enormous costs in sending people to Mars. NASA's funds for the asteroid mission were removed by the Congress to ensure prioritization of the lunar mission.

A lunar taxi is planned to be constructed by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. The vehicle will help transport astronauts to the moon. The European Space Agency has a similar plan using 3D printers to construct a colony on the surface of the moon. China and India, on the other hand, are joining the space race by building their own space telescope and reusable rockets.

Obama's argument for the last several years and the reason why Mars is in the utmost importance in the next space mission is the question "If not now, when?" This was also supported by Elon Musk founder of SpaceX, who proposed a plan to send cargo rockets every 26 months to Mars starting 2018.