Isn't at least part of the problem that Congress doesn't allocate money? I'm glad private companies have gotten into the business. Look how much has been already
Problem is the way the appropriation process works in the federal government. Funding can’t cross FY boundaries so the programs ebb and flow with each congressional election and the destination changes with each presidential election.
Note. This is not a political discussion. Not taking sides. Just stating facts.
Bush had a good plan with SLI. Obama cancelled it but then was forced to keep SLS and Orion by Congress. Building a rocket and a capsule with no destination. It was going to go somewhere but not the moon because that was Bush’s plan. Now Trump says go back to the moon. And NASA answered a question yesterday saying they don’t know if they will bring back rocks from the moon because the Ofion capsule wasn’t designed with a dedicated storage space for sample returns.
If Trump gets reelected we might actually go back to the moon. If he doesn’t the program will probably get canceled because it was Trump’s plan. So then we might go to Mars. Or to an asteroid. Or somewhere. But Congress will say they have to use SLS and Orion because too many congressional districts are involved in their development.
Multi year budgets/funding appropriation for nationwide strategic initiatives like this will be the only real solution but currently that is against the law.
