Well if you were hoping for a Mars mission that would enable the humans to finally put their feet on the big red planet we know as Mars within this decade then you will be disappointed to know that this is not going to happen in this and most probably the very next decade. However the positive news is that NASA and a private sector company has agreed on sending a manned mission to planet Mars in the 2030s.
The announcement was made during the Humans to Mars (H2M) summit that took place this week at the George Wasington University. The summit was held to explore the ways of sending a manned mission to Mars and to figure out whether it is safe enough to do so. Of coarse sending a manned mission to Mars require a lot which includes technological and financial challenges among other things but humans right after setting foot on Mars have been dying to reach Mars and achieve the milestone for the whole human race.
The inclusion of a company from the private sector has been done because as NASA’s Charles Bolden states sending human mission on Mars is a priority however the agency cannot do it on its own due to financial and other limitations and thus requires private investment and resources. NASA is looking at a strategy that would divide the work between private company and itself so it can apply its resources at more complex problems such as how it would get its astronomers out of Mars among other things. NASA is looking at modules the SpaceX’s Dragon that could be used to take the spaceship out of Earth’s low orbit.
While NASA reiterated its commitment of putting the Man on Mars it did admitted that it isn’t ready for this big venture and does not have the capability right now to pull this off. Bolden noted that NASA will have that capability by 2030s.
Landing on Mars will be a big challenge for NASA and its astronomers and it is currently looking at the sky-crane system like landing system which was used for curiosity rover. Landing on Mars isn’t as simple as landing something on Earth as atmosphere is much more thinner than it is here and also because Mars is 250-350 million miles away and travelling this much could make astronauts vulnerable to radiations.
NASA is committed to sending humans on Mars but we might have to wait at least 20 years for this dream to come true.