Despite Elon Musk’s calls to make a manned mission to Mars a top priority for the next few years, newly elected US President Donald Trump has reacted more than cold to the idea. In a recent interview with Fox News, the president said that a mission to the Red Planet was not his “number one priority,” despite his own pathos promises to “set the American flag on Mars.”
Back in early February, during a speech to Congress, Trump talked about space expansion as a national goal. But a month later, his tone changed to the opposite. “There seems to be a lot of interest. But is it the first place on my list? No,” he commented.
Mars at the cost of the Moon
Elon Musk, who has already turned NASA employees against himself with his radical actions through the “Department of Efficiency” DOGE, is pushing strongly for interplanetary missions. He even called for the agency to abandon the Artemis mission to return to the Moon to focus on Mars. Trump initially even supported Musk, saying on Twitter that the Moon was “past its prime” and the US should invest in Mars. However, the situation has now changed.
The Artemis program, created to return humans to the Moon during the Trump era, has come under threat. Its cancelation could trigger a wave of outrage in Congress over high costs already after the launch. In addition, a Martian mission would require significantly more money and time. For example, SpaceX’s Starship, which Musk has called “the key to Mars,” is still facing technical problems – constant rocket explosions and delays have cast doubt on his predictions of manned flights by 2026.
NASA’s budget is “under the knife”
It’s not yet known how Musk will react to Trump’s statement about changing priorities on Mars. Regardless of their disagreement over space goals, however, Trump and Musk are acting together on budget cuts. Spending on science program funding for NASA could be cut by 50%, threatening to freeze U.S. space exploration for years, according to experts.
Will this contradiction break the alliance of businessman and politician? It remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Mars remains Musk’s top dream, while Trump seems determined to return from the stars to Earth.
Earlier we reported on how Donald Trump ordered the closure of three key NASA departments.
According to spacenews.com
