NASA picks a bold date to land humans on Mars

NASA has said landing the first astronauts on Mars in 2040 is an “aggressive” and “bold” deadline, but the space agency still wants to go for it.

The first human landing on Mars will take a little longer the most optimistic forecasts, but there is already a date set and it is very aggressive. In a statement by representatives of the NASAthe idea is to achieve it in 2040, but they warn that the deadline is a big challenge due to the amount of technologies that need to be developed and tested.

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During the 2023 Humans to Mars Summit, Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), said that the 2040 deadline “may seem like a long time, but it’s a very short time to develop the technologies of what we need”.

In 2022, some NASA internal documents accessed by Ars Technica has already indicated delays in the space exploration program’s optimistic schedules for the next few decades. Central to all these plans is a human landing on Mars: the Artemis program itself, centered on the Moon, has this as one of the ultimate goals.

In the “era” of John Birdenstine at NASA, the director even commented that it would be possible take astronauts to the Red Planet in 2035provided that all partner space agencies in the world have managed to convince their respective governments to provide all the necessary support.

Such efforts should once again focus on the Artemis program, often described as a “stepping stone to Mars”. Is that plans for the Moon during upcoming missions, such as the gateway space station and the human base on the lunar surface, with the exploration of natural resources, will be used to enhance the launches on the Martian soil.

That said, it’s clear that the Artemis program delays will result in schedule changes and, ultimately, the landing on Mars. While the first human deployment to the Red Planet could still happen in the 2030s, the team won’t land there, but will orbit for valuable observations, with the goal of ensuring the next crew lands safely.

According to NASA, astronauts may even be able to orbit Mars in 2033, but stepping on the Red Planet before 2040 would be an “aggressive” and “bold” goal. For that to happen, humans must have successfully established a sustainable stay on the Moon, and the lunar station must also have its technologies well-tested.

Testing things like the Gateway, which isn’t ready yet, is more of a challenge than it sounds, as it’s been designed to accomplish missions never done before. The station will orbit the Moon and house supplies and astronauts to perform simulated missions to Mars.

To reach its destination, the Gateway will have to pass through the Van Allen radiation belt, which means that NASA will also have to fly simulated missions to test “advanced radiation shielding technology” currently under development, but these tests they will take time, according to Reuters.

All of this without mentioning the Starship system, da SpaceX, which also needs to be able to test and launch Artemis missions in the coming years. The explosion of the first prototype while trying to send it into Earth orbit may represent some delay, depending on the type of defects that need to be fixed.

In any case, NASA wants to try to meet this strictly aggressive deadline and, to this end, is again appealing to partner countries and commercial companies that have signed collaboration agreements with the Artemis program. “It’s going to take that kind of partnership and that kind of relationship to achieve these big, bold goals that we want to achieve,” said Nicola Fox, also an associate director of STMD.

Source: space.com

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Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.