NASA's science mission directorate maintains a balanced portfolio of missions, including flagship, medium, and small projects, to ensure collective success. This approach prevents any single project's budget from compromising other vital missions. A significant risk emerges if an expensive endeavor, like the new Moon nuclear reactor, causes funding to redirect from other essential research, potentially leading to termination of numerous initiatives. Sustaining a human presence on the Moon requires essential resources like air, water, and food, complicating long-term habitation plans.
A balanced portfolio prevents any one mission from going over budget, thus securing funds for other vital endeavors in NASA's science mission directorate.
The danger to a balanced portfolio is that an expensive project can unbalance funding, leading to the underfunding or termination of necessary initiatives.
The commitment to build a 100 kilowatt nuclear reactor on the Moon could lead to a permanent defunding of NASA science, threatening future missions.
A sustained lunar presence requires resources such as breathable air, safe drinking water, and food, highlighting the complexity of establishing human colonies on the Moon.
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