Elon Musk has finally shut down rumors that his own company, SpaceX, will greatly benefit from President Donald Trump's latest bill for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA.
This is despite the unbelievable fact that the President just made human exploration to Mars a federal law.
Elon Musk Not Happy
Responding to a tweet by Kara Swisher, the cofounder of independent tech news website Recode, which implied that somewhere the business magnate is "smiling" about the news, Musk said:
@karaswisher I am not. This bill changes almost nothing about what NASA is doing. Existing programs stay in place and there is no added funding for Mars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 22, 2017
"Perhaps there will be some future bill that makes a difference for Mars, but this is not it," he continued in a second tweet.
Trump's NASA bill has somewhat made it into law to add human exploration of the Red Planet as a goal for the space agency to provide for the use of International Space Station until 2024, along with private sector companies partnering with NASA to deliver cargo and experiments, among others. Nevertheless, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, believes this is still nowhere near his dreams of making commercial travel to Mars possible for the public.
Trump's NASA Bill
The recently signed legislation highlights a whopping $19.5 billion budget for the government space agency for the current fiscal year. This is the first time in seven years that a U.S. president has approved an authorization bill for NASA, Sen. Ted Cruz, the representative of Texas and a chief sponsor of the bill, claimed.
The first of its kind, the S.442 bill aims to support NASA's deep space exploration missions — including "achieving human exploration of Mars and beyond" — and encourage private-public partnerships, according to the White House.
"I'm delighted to sign this bill. It's been a long time since a bill like this has been signed, reaffirming our commitment to the core mission of NASA: human space exploration, space science, and technology," President Trump said.
Musk In Trump's Council
Earlier this year, Musk drew flak after Trump's team announced his name as a member of the POTUS' economic advisory council, alongside other prominent business leaders. On his Twitter account, Musk has shared to millions of his followers, who are still questioning his decision, some updates on how his presence in the Trump advisory council is making a difference.
In addition, I again raised climate. I believe this is doing good, so will remain on council & keep at it. Doing otherwise would be wrong. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2017
