After billions of dollars in spending and decades of planning, NASA may be forced to abandon precious samples of air, rock and soil on the Martian surface. Experts are furious

NASA is considering launching missions to Mars as early as next year in an effort to expedite its plan to land astronauts on the Red Planet. The surprise shift of focus comes less than a week after the U.S. administration released its proposed budget for the agency, which emphasizes the national goal of landing a human on Mars.

Space exploration and science could take a serious hit as funding is slashed by 24% under Trump's proposed budget.