Technology development efforts not tied to specific missions tend to be vulnerable to the budget ax, especially when funding gets tight. Cash shortfalls are nothing new for NASA, of course, but with Congress now mandating development of a heavy-lift rocket that is not currently in the agency’s spending plan, things could get even tougher in the years ahead.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...