NASA is facing budget challenges that may force it to make difficult decisions about its mission portfolio, potentially impacting its involvement in a planned European mission to Venus while prioritizing the Artemis program for lunar exploration.
Artemis NASA wants to accelerate its Artemis missions to the moon. It will need to drop some big hardware to do it.An illustration of the DAVINCI mission's descent probe above Venus . Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.
Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Space.com's Sci-Fi Reader's Club. Read a sci-fi short story every month and join a virtual community of fellow science fiction fans!NASA's role in a planned Europe-led mission to Venus remains uncertain as budget pressures drive"hard strategic choices" about which missions will be able to continue, Louise Prockter, director of NASA's planetary science division, said on Monday . Speaking at a town hall at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, Prockter said NASA is"still in negotiations" with the European Space Agency over its role in the planned Envision mission. The Januaryallocated $2.54 billion to the planetary science division for 2026. Although this was higher than the administration’s proposed $1.89 billion, it was still about $200 million less than the prior year, she said,"and that means that not everything can continue forward or continue forward in the same way."Russia aims to reclaim Soviet space glory with 2036 launch of ambitious Venus mission Lower-cost space missions like NASA's ESCAPADE are starting to deliver exciting science – but at a price in risk and trade‑offsmission, which began construction in 2025, is designed to map Venus' surface and atmosphere in detail from orbit. It is one of three major missions underpinning what scientists have described as a"to finalize funding allocations, the 2026 appropriations bill provides $99 million to continue DAVINCI, while work on VERITAS is"ramping up slowly," she said. Under the original Envision plan, NASA would contribute a key instrument known as VenSAR, a high-resolution radar system intended to map the planet's surface features. However, due toBreaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Keeping the mission on schedule is critical, as missing Envision's launch window — no later than 2033 — could delay it by at least three years due to planetary alignment constraints.DAVINCI mission , now expected to launch sooner than previously planned and ahead of the other missions, may be the first to kick off the new wave of Venus exploration. Speaking at the conference on Tuesday , Natasha Johnson of the Goddard Space Flight Center said the mission now targets a launch for December 2030 — earlier than previous estimates of no sooner than 2031 — driven by what she described as a"rush for science now." The spacecraft is expected to reach Venus and release its descent probe in January 2033. The probe will transmit data"as fast as it possibly can" as itAnd despite persistent funding constraints, the DAVINCI and VERITAS science teams have continued making progress, including field campaigns in analog environments such as Iceland, she added. "Even though our funding has been very limited, we've still been pressing forward," Johnson said."We've been doing more with less, in a sense, or we've just been doing as best we can." Sharmila Kuthunur is an independent space journalist based in Bengaluru, India. Her work has also appeared in Scientific American, Science, Astronomy and Live Science, among other publications. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northeastern University in Boston.Lower-cost space missions like NASA's ESCAPADE are starting to deliver exciting science – but at a price in risk and trade‑offsSpace ExplorationWatch the BBC's Dr Who spin-off 'The War Between the Land and the Sea' and every episode of the classic Dr Who series on your travels with our exclusive NordVPN deal 'For All Mankind' is confirmed for season 6, but it'll be the final mission for Apple TV's incredible space show
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