(Image source: NASA)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

The buzz around NASA this week is that the planetary science program is going to take a 20% budget cut next year. That means less money to explore other planets — especially Mars. A writer for TIME explains.

“With limited money for science and an over-budget new space telescope, the space agency essentially had to make a choice in where it wanted to explore: the neighboring planet or the far-off cosmos. Mars lost.”

Last September, NASA’s former-Associate Administrator for Science Edward Weiler resigned because of the coming budget cuts. He said he was tired of fighting NASA’s budget office to try to save the Mars programs. Fox News has his comments.

“He says ‘To me, it’s totally irrational and unjustified. We are the only country on this planet that has the demonstrated ability to land on another planet, namely Mars. It is a national prestige issue.”

So which missions are getting the axe? NASA is currently scheduled to work with the European Space Agency to send two probes to Mars in 2016 and 2018. And Space.com explains, those missions — known as ExoMars — look like they’re first on the chopping block.

“NASA is slated to provide the rockets for both ExoMars launches, as well as a variety of instrumentation for the orbiter and the rover. The U.S. space agency also is supposed to contribute the landing system for the rover's descent to the Martian surface. But NASA probably will have to pull out of the ExoMars effort now.”

In part, the budget cuts are due to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope is billions of dollars over budget, taking resources away from other missions. Because it’s become such a huge project, NASA has tweaked the design to try to make James Webb all things to all researchers.

But a writer for Wired says that’s a bad precedent for the agency.

“Packing multiple instruments into a single project leads to increased costs without necessarily delivering more science. … Rather than working on enormous and expensive projects, perhaps the community could be better served with a suite of smaller, cheaper, more focused missions...”

The possible cuts won’t affect the current Mars rover mission, already on its way to the Red Planet. The rover is on course for an August landing.