NASA HAS BEEN setting its sights on Mars for some time, with undersea research stations and new spacesuits being designed.
Now it wants to get down to the nitty gritty of where we would land on the planet, where we would live and possibly work on the planet.
Real plans in motion
While this might remind you more of the 1990 movie total recall, NASA are taking it all quite seriously.
NASA said it is advancing the Journey to Mars by starting the conversation about where humans may one day land on the planet.
The agency is hosting a conference in the autumn to collect proposals on areas on Mars that would be of high scientific research value while also providing natural resources to enable human explorers to safely land, live and work on Mars.
Humans on Mars in 15 years
It said it’s aiming to develop the capabilities needed to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.
First it want to choose a few sites on Mars where NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft can land in the coming decades.
Potential exploration zone are to be identified that will offer the best science research while also providing resources that astronauts can take advantage while on Mars.
NASA said the first explorers are expected to be limited to about 60 miles of travel from their landing site due to life support and exploration technology requirements.
The agency said efforts to send humans to Mars is already underway today, “with spacecraft monitoring Mars from orbit and rovers on the surface, the International Space Station being used to test systems and to learn more about the health impacts of extended space travel, and the development and testing of the next generation of launch and crew vehicles — the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crewed spacecraft underway”.
The workshop will be held October 27–30, 2015, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas.
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