Skip to main content

Week 7 Space exploration and science

Completion requirements
View all sections of the document

This is a graph of the cost in billions of US dollars on the vertical axis against the financial years 2004 to 2020 on the horizontal axis. The period 2004 to 2009 is designated as the present 5 year budget plan. The initial overall cost in 2004 was 15 000 billion dollars; the overall cost is anticipated to rise year on year until it reaches approximately 22 000 billion dollars in 2020. These costs are broken down into exploration missions, human/robotic technology, crew exploration vehicles, International Space Station, ISS transport, Space Shuttle and aeronautics and other science activities. Exploration missions are set to expand significantly; the space shuttle expenditure to reach zero by 2012; spending in total on the International Space Station and ISS transport is expected to reach zero by 2017.