Touchdown

Politico Space | Jacqueline Klimas

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed Thursday afternoon on Mars, marking a historic new chapter in America’s exploration of the Red Planet.

“The most important thing was the human factor,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA who was on hand at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena as it unfolded, told us. “The tension was certainly there. … Every step of the way, every benchmark that occurs, there’s a sigh of relief or applause or a high five. It was great to see the enthusiasm by Americans for success in the space program.”

The rover checked in via its official Twitter account to let the world know it was safe. “Perseverance will get you anywhere.”

What happens next is up to Washington. Perseverance is the first in a three-part effort to bring tubes of Martian dust back to Earth for study in 2031. But that will require a decade-long commitment in dollars and political will from Congress and successive presidential administrations. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the House Science Committee, admitted he is “concerned” that Congress will not follow through on funding for a mission with such a delayed payoff.

To help build support for the sample return mission another leading space legislator wants to pass a bipartisan congressional resolution so future appropriators know Congress once believed this effort was critical. “We’re not the president. We can’t be John Kennedy and say ‘at the end of the decade,’” Don Beyer (D-Va.), who chairs the House space subcommittee, said in reference to JFK’s 1962 moonshot speech that ignited the Apollo program. “But we can do the congressional equivalent.”

Perseverance can also help make the case, Moran said. “Today’s success I think helps bring us along in the cause of support for planetary missions. … Does the helicopter take off a month from now? All of those things build the case for continued support,” said Moran, referencing an experimental helicopter onboard that would be the first to fly on another planet.