La Planetary Society riporta delle buone notizie provenienti dagli USA: hanno approvato il budget per il 2019, la NASA prende un +3.5% rispetto al 2018, gli americani confermano di voler restare davanti a tutti nella corsa spaziale.
ChissĂ che questo non spinga i nostri governanti a fare lo stesso nella ministeriale di Novembre 
E andiamo sulla Luna Beppe!
Ottima notizia 
Concordo. Ottima notizia in generale. Speriamo che la distribuzione dei fondi sia saggia, mi devo leggere perbene questo articolo…
A quanto pare a Marzo la NASA avrĂ i fondi adeguati per assegnare un contratto per la costruzione effettiva del PPE e il testing degli Hab (questo verso fine anno).
I sistemi Orion/SLS + Deep Space Exploration hanno ricevuto 400 milioni in più del richiesto. Unito al fatto che Europa Clipper ha ricevuto fondi corposi, inclusi 185 mln per il lander, dopo la green run del CS-1 mi aspetto l’assegnazione di un contratto a Boeing per la costruzione di CS-3 (forse anche CS-4). Verso fine 2019 dovremmo anche sapere i dettagli sull’EUS. Interessante anche la corposa mano d’aiuto data a WFIRST.
dettagli extra dall Explanatory Statements
The agreement includes $97,000,000 for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test and no less than the fiscal year 2018 level for NEOcam.
The agreement includes no less than $312,200,000 for WFIRST. The agreement emphasizes and reiterates House and Senate language regarding cost overruns, schedule delays, and adherence to the $3,200,000,000 cost cap. The agreement also includes $10,000,000 for starshade technology development and $10,000,000 for search for life technology development.
The agreement includes a general provision to adjust the cap for JWST to $8,802,700,000, an increase of $802,700,000 above the previous cap. NASA should strictly adhere to this cap or, under this agreement, JWST will have to find cost savings or cancel the mission.
The agreement includes $926,900,000 for Space Technology.
$48,100,000 for solar electric propulsion activities;
$5,000,000 for innovative use of nanomaterials;
not less than $100,000,000 for the development of nuclear thermal propulsion, of which not less than $70,000,000 shall be for the design of a flight demonstration by 2024 for which a multi-year plan is required by both the House and the Senate within 180 days of enactment of this agreement.
NASA shall allocate sufficient funding to ensure that both the EUS and the second mobile launch platform will be ready for flight no later than 2024.
The agreement provides not less than $145,000,000 for the Human Research Program;
$176,200,000 for habitation, airlock for docking vehicles and other logistics activities as requested;
adopts House and Senate direction regarding lunar lander-related language and provides up to $116,500,000 for Advanced Cislunar and Surface Capabilities;
and $450,000,000 for the Lunar Orbital Platform.
The agreement provides $4,639,100,000 for Space Operations, and includes $40,000,000 for commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) development, as recommended by the Senate, for LEO port implementation analysis and other activities to enable future commercial activities at the International Space Station.
The agreement includes $110,000,000 for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Engagement [that’s the new name for Education]