Approximately $10 of every $1 invested in NASA comes right back into the economy. That’s a 10-fold return on investment that can’t be beat, and this economic benefit is enough to warrant 1% of the US annual budget.
The White House’s FY 2013 budget requested a 38.5% budget cut to NASA’s planetary exploration budget. This means that NASA was forced to halt their plans to partner with the ESA on the ExoMars mission, included possible further cutbacks in Mars missions, and others.We have had plan after plan over the last 40 years to bring us back to the Moon, to Mars and beyond. All of which have seen their budgets slashed, and their programs eventually dismantled.