“NASA is closer to sending American astronauts to Mars than at any point in our history. Today, we are publishing additional details about our journey to Mars plan and how we are aligning all of our work in support of this goal. In the coming weeks, I look forward to continuing to discuss the details of our plan with members of Congress, as well as our commercial and our international and partners, many of whom will be attending the International Astronautical Congress next week.” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
The journey to Marscrosses three thresholds, each with increasing challenges as humans move farther from Earth. NASA is managing these challenges by developing and demonstrating capabilities in incremental steps:
Earth Reliant exploration is focused on research aboard the ISS (International Space Station). From this world-class microgravity laboratory, NASA is testing technologies and advancing human health and performance research that will enable deep space, long duration missions.
The space station is the only microgravity platform for the long-term testing of new life support and crew health systems, advanced habitat modules, and other technologies needed to decrease reliance on Earth. In there, the first lettuce has been cultivated fully on the space without gravity. A crucial step to cultivate plants and animals in a future outside our planets.
In the Proving Ground, NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment that allows crews to return to Earth in a matter of days. Primarily operating in cislunar space—the volume of space around the moon featuring multiple possible stable staging orbits for future deep space missions—NASA will advance and validate capabilities required for humans to live and work at distances much farther away from our home planet, such as at Mars.
Earth Independent activities build on what we learn on the space station and in deep space to enable human missions to the Mars vicinity, possibly to low-Mars orbit or one of the Martian moons, and eventually the Martian surface. Future Mars missions will represent a collaborative effort between NASA and its partners—a global achievement that marks a transition in humanity’s expansion as NASA goes to Mars to seek.
“NASA’s strategy connects near-term activities and capability development to the journey to Mars and a future with a sustainable human presence in deep space. This strategy charts a course toward horizon goals, while delivering near-term benefits, and defining a resilient architecture that can accommodate budgetary changes, political priorities, new scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, and evolving partnerships.” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters.
NASA is charting new territory, and they will adapt to new scientific discoveries and new opportunities. The current efforts are focused on pieces of the architecture that are needed. In parallel, NASA continue to refine an evolving architecture for the capabilities that require further investigation. These efforts will define the next two decades on the journey to Mars.
The full plan can be read at:
Bibliography
NASA,. (2016). NASA Releases Plan Outlining Next Steps in the Journey to Mars. Retrieved 18 February 2016, from http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-releases-plan-outlining-next-steps-in-the-journey-to-mars
NASA,. (2016). NASA's Journey to Mars. Retrieved 18 February 2016, from http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars
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