Space & Astronomy

NASA's Mars plan includes new Moon mission

By T.K. Randall
May 10, 2017

Image: Full Moon
Credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) During a talk at the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington D.C. yesterday, Greg Williams of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate outlined the first two phases of the space agency's current plans for sending humans to Mars.

Of particular note was the intention to construct a "deep-space gateway" around the Moon for the purpose of developing and testing out all the technologies needed for the trip.

In addition to acting as the launch point for the eventual mission itself, the lunar gateway would also play host to a trial run - a twelve-month crewed mission that would test out the viability of surviving the journey to Mars but without the risk of stranding the astronauts out in deep space.The lunar mission would be carried out in the late 2020s followed by a Mars mission in the 2030s.

"We're trying to lead this journey to Mars with a broad range of partnerships," said Williams.

"One of the things we'll be doing over the next few years is, putting that package together: what players want to provide what - both nationally and internationally - and how we can together, with NASA in an orchestrating role, really move out on these crewed missions to Mars."

Source: Space.com

Tags: Mars, Moon