Scientists were enraged when the U.S. House of Representatives' NASA budget proposal has been significantly lessened for Earth studies that were supposed to be essential for combating climate change. The budget will now be transferred to space exploration which experts believe that could take a toll on the space agency's deeper understanding of global warming.

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Last Thursday, the bill was passed by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee where it will slash down fundings for Earth science by more than US $300 million where the rest will be utilized for space flight programs and missions that is estimated to reach $200 million.

Proponents of the space agency's Earth studies programs stand by their belief that NASA has contributed siginificant studies that resulted in breakthrough results about the current understanding of global weather patterns and trends which also include environmental impacts.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden stated that this House bill is threatening to set back generations worth of progress in the understanding of Earth's climate and will further worsen our inability to predict and even respond to natural calamities such as earthquakes and hurricane events.

Many critics regard this budget deficit as reckless, where according to Marshall Shepherd who is a former scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, this bill is equivalent to taking NASA's Earth science program from the advent of smartphones back to first generation flip phones or even the rotary telephone.

The results yielded a 19 to 15 vote from the House Science Committee as the lawmakers who approved of the budget cut readily defended their stand where this can restore balance to the space agency and would give back the reins to NASA as a world leader in space exploration.

According to committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the U.S. has been leading the world in space exploration for more than 50 years, and balance must be restored again to ensure that the U.S. continues to lead the space race for another 50 years. He also says that the Obama administration has been consistently cutting down funds for manned space exploration missions and increasing the Earth Science Division by more than 63 percent.

TagsNASA budget cut, NASA Earth science budget, House Science, Space and Technology Committee, US, US House of Representatives NASA budget cut, NASA space exploration earth sciences