NASA will be forced to operate on a budget of just over $17 billion next year after being asked to reduce their spending. This is their biggest cut in four years and Bill Nye, CEO of space exploration group, The Planetary Society says it will devastate the group and explains further:

“Science is the part of NASA that’s actually conducting interesting and scientifically important missions,”

“Spacecraft sent to Mars, Saturn, Mercury, the Moon, comets, and asteroids have been making incredible discoveries, with more to come from recent launches to Jupiter, the Moon, and Mars.”

“The country needs more of these robotic space exploration missions, not less.”

“I encourage whoever made this decision to ask around; everyone on Earth wants to know if there is life on other worlds,”

“When you cut NASA’s budget in this way, you’re losing sight of why we explore space in the first place.”

So it appears that the poor economic conditions are beginning to impact all facets of government funding. It makes sense to cut back on lofty space exploration efforts especially during these times. I don’t know how much value American tax payers truly get out of shooting our money into space. Bill Nye seems very enthusiastic about his work, but I believe these cuts make sense. Come on, a $17 billion budget?