Trump just signed a law that maps out NASA's long-term future — but a critical element is missing

President Donald Trump speaks after signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017.

• President Trump has signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017.
• The new law calls for a $19.5 billion NASA budget and asks the space agency to reach Mars by 2033.
• However, the law leaves out earth science, which the Trump administration intends to cut heavily.

For the first time in nearly seven years, the US government has passed a new long-term vision for NASA's future.
President Donald Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, a bill also known as S.442, into law in the Oval Office on March 21.
The Senate and House had collaborated on the document for months, and it requests a $19.5 billion-a-year budget for the space agency. (NASA received $19.3 billion in 2016, or 0.5% of the total federal budget.)
In an image that Trump tweeted on Tuesday, the president said he's "delighted to sign this bill reaffirming our national commitment to the core mission of NASA: human space exploration, space science, and technology."
However, that core mission is missing something that has been a part of the space agency since its creation: earth science.