Funding Moon, Mars & Beyond: 0.1% Annual Increase Of USA National Budget Through 2024
NASA Budget Remains <1% Since 1993; Agency Is Tasked With Landing The First Woman On The Moon In 2024 & Developing Sustainable Return To Moon Architecture; Request Of ‘Additional’ US$1.6B Dubbed As ‘Down Payment’ For Artemis Program By Administrator Bridenstine; Current Allotment Of ~0.5% Federal Budget Gaining 0.1% Per Year Would Give NASA 1% By 2024 – Which Would Align Visionary Ambitions With True Commitment, Real Support
Credits: Office of Management and Budget, Chart by Andrew Witherspoon / Axios with additions by SPC, NASA
National Day Of Space Flight Meetings Are In Changsha 24 April, 49th Observation Of Dongfanghong-1, First Zhongguo Artificial Satellite; Theme Is “Pursue Space Dream For Win-Win Cooperation” With International Partners Contributing Science Experiments To Chang’e-4 And Queqiao Orbiter; Chang’e-4 Returns More Images Of Lunar Far Side While Chang’e-5 Is Planned For Late 2019; China National Space Administration Head Zhang Kejian (R), One Of Time Magazine’s 100 Influential People, Announces Plans To Build Research Station On Lunar South Pole Within 10 Years
Lunar Impact Opens Door For Future Missions; SpaceIL Vows To Attempt Soft Landing With Beresheet 2.0; International Independent Enterprises Like Astrobotic, Moon Express, PTScientists, Team Indus, Team Hakuto, As Well As SpaceX, Blue Origin, And Others All Aim For Moon; SpaceNews Writer 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Scientist Laura Kerber Advocates ‘Moon Diver’ Mission For Exploring Lava Tubes, Continuing Campaign At 50th Lunar And Planetary Science Conference; First Goal Will Be Mysterious Pit In Sea Of Tranquility Location Of Apollo 11; Two-Wheeled ‘Axel’ Rover Would Descend 40-meter Pit Walls And Rappel Another 70 Meters Into Unexplored Space; Lunar Lava Tubes Will Be Potential Natural Shelters For Storage And Habitation; Moon Diver Would Launch In Mid-2020s Timeframe When USA Plans Human Landings At South Pole
NASA Laser Retroreflectors Are On Two Upcoming Lunar Landings, Israel Beresheet (L) Scheduled For 11 April And India Chandrayaan-2 (R) Launching Apr; Unpowered Laser Reflectors Will Be Useful For Lunar Navigation, Measuring The Moon’s Changing Distance From Earth And Fundamental Physics; Retroreflectors Left By 3 Apollo And 2 Russia Luna Landings Still Returning Science; Apollo Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment Reports The 384,402-km Earth-Moon Distance Increasing By 3.82 cm/yr, An Anomalously High Figure That May Indicate The Speed Of Light Changing