President Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act on Tuesday, a bipartisan bill that grants the agency about $19 billion.
While many celebrated the move, Elon Musk does not view it as favorably.
President Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act on Tuesday, a bipartisan bill that grants the agency about $19 billion and "...adds human exploration of Mars to NASA's mission," reports the Associated Press.
While many celebrated the move, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk did not have an enthusiastic reaction.
In response to a tweet by Recode’s Kara Swisher, which read, “Somewhere @elonmusk is smiling,” Musk wrote, “@karaswisher I am not. This bill changes almost nothing about what NASA is doing. Existing programs stay in place and there is no added funding for Mars.”
Immediately after, Musk tweeted, “...Perhaps there will be some future bill that makes a difference for Mars, but this is not it.”
Musk’s company SpaceX also has its sights set on Mars and is working towards providing commercial travel to the Red Planet, and, eventually, colonizing it, notes CNBC.
He has said that the newly signed bill does nothing to advance these goals.
At this time, SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.
Thus far, it has performed 10 cargo missions for the agency, ferrying equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.
