NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is facing some tough scrutiny.
The Senate Appropriations Committee offered their recommendations on the spending bill for fiscal year 2024, and they do not provide all NASA was hoping for. The Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) spending bill, which allocates funds for NASA and a few other government agencies, was reviewed by the committee in a 28 to 1 vote on July 13. The bill secures funding for NASA's ongoing Artemis program to the moon and other exploration initiatives, but cuts the space agency's budget for planetary science by over half a billion dollars.
