He added that since President Obama entered office, there has been a «disproportionate increase» in funding for
Nasa's earth science programme, which has come at the expense of space
exploration as well as
planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics.
Melissa Guzman, Astrobiologist at
Nasa Ames, stated: «The image of students building plant growth payloads and communicating virtually from labs in California, Lima, and Dubai is exciting for the future of
planetary exploration and astrobiology.