Landing a human on Mars by the 2030s is now a priority for the US with every available dollar to be spent on bridging gaps in knowledge on how to get there, NASA’s chief said.
Addressing a conference of space experts at George Washington University, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that despite hard economic times the United States is committed to breaking new boundaries in space exploration.
“A human mission to Mars is today the ultimate destination in our solar system for humanity, and it is a priority for NASA. Our entire exploration program is aligned to support this goal,” Bolden said.
President Barack Obama has proposed a $17.7 billion dollar budget for NASA in 2014, and he supports a “vibrant and coordinated strategy for Mars exploration,” Bolden said.
Among the first steps to sending astronauts to Mars are NASA’s plans to capture and relocate an asteroid by 2025, a process that should inform future efforts to send humans into deep space, the former astronaut said.
Also, US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko have volunteered to spend one year at the International Space Station beginning in 2015 to allow doctors to assess how long-duration zero gravity exposure affects bone density, muscle mass and vision. Read the remainder of this entry »
but the launch has been met with growing concerns over the legality of escalating drone surveillance and lethal strikes.
