Space & Astronomy

Obama aims to send humans to Mars by 2030s

By T.K. Randall
October 12, 2016

Image: President Barack Obama
Credit: Pete Souza / (PD) White House In an op-ed article published by CNN on Tuesday, Obama attempted to reinvigorate his earlier calls for progress towards a manned mission to Mars by drawing attention to six government contracts awarded to companies that will develop prototype habitation modules for use in deep space.

One of these, an inflatable room, has already been tested out on the International Space Station.

"These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth, something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," he wrote.The President also outlined the fact that, within the next few years, private companies such as SpaceX and Boeing will be developing spacecraft capable of carrying US astronauts in to space, thus ending their current reliance on the Russian Soyuz.

While the article has helped to focus attention back towards what NASA has called its 'Journey to Mars', Obama's comments have ultimately revealed little in the way of new information.

"There's nothing big here at all, unless you haven't been paying attention," said former space policy chief John Logsdon of George Washington University.

"It's a refocusing of the fact that he set these goals and NASA has been pursuing them."


Source: The Guardian

Tags: Mars, Obama