A new report has confirmed that there is not much excitement about the much-talked about NASA's mission to land astronauts on an asteroid by 2025, which is part of a trip to Mars. There are numerous challenges in front of the agency, including human spaceflight, Earth and space science, and aeronautics and disagreements on all these facets arise from the partial agreement on long-term vision of NASA.

"NASA is now an agency at a transitional point", said the report, which has been made by a team of 12 experts as selected by the National Research Council, a division of the National Academies of Sciences.

The report highlighted that without being given th4e requisite support, NASA is being asked to do too much and that's affecting the agency as a whole. There is dire need for the agency to prioritize its science and research functions, thereby putting the maximum attention to exploring space.

"There is no national consensus on strategic goals and objectives, which helps to explain why NASA does not have a real strategic plan", asserted Albert Carnesale, who chaired the panel of experts. While the agency asserts that they are making steady progress, it would be worth seeing what all would the agency be able to achieve in the time to come.