
The journey to Mars might not be possible
In spite of vigorous promotion, a committee finds NASA’s Mars plans to be in disarray and doesn’t see much feasibility in a potential manned mission to the Red Planet.
- NASA has been aiming for a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s
- Testing of the SLS rocket and Orion capsule are schedule for 2018 and 2023
- Committee members estimated that NASA has neither the funds nor the technology for a mission to the Red Planet
- They suggested that the space agency redirect its attention to the moon
Specifically, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has dismantled NASA’s plans on their highly anticipated mission to Mars. Apparently, it would take a lot for it to even be possible. This includes tremendous funds that far exceed NASA’s budget and advancement in technology that we have yet to start developing. It’s very possible that the ambitious goal won’t be achieved.
Congress members along with three other experts have argued that a manned mission would require around $1 trillion worth of investments. They found the space agency has no clear path, goal, and stable plan that would bring them to the end of their mission. Perhaps aiming for the Red Planet is a little too ambitious on their part. Tom Young, from the Goddard Space Flight Center stated that the agency is nowhere close to launching such a mission.
Admittedly though, NASA has been working on space crafts that aim to be used in their manned mission to Mars. That implies the heavily tested Orion capsule and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that is meant to blast it off to beyond the limits of our planet. However, it remains if they will pass trials, and there are only a handful planned.
According to the space agency, both the SLS and Orion will first be tested in 2018. The second trial will imply crew members that will take flight in 2023, though NASA is pushing for 2021. However, there are also bigger plans for the SLS. For example, the Committee criticized the space agency’s intention of using the rocket in the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). It’s essentially a mission for humans to trap an asteroid and redirect it.
It sounds thrilling and could be potentially exciting. However, republican representative Lamar Smith called it a “time-wasting distraction”. He stated that it will bring no true information about further exploring new space, it will not aid future mission, and won’t truly attribute to anything. It’s a “misguided mission without a mission”. Essentially, it’s thought to be a waste of time and valuable money that could be used for more achievable goals.
For example, a revisit to the moon. The European Space Agency (ESA) has expressed their interest in once again landing on our planet’s natural satellite. They would be benefiting from the collaboration and partnership of several nations, unlike NASA’s mission to Mars. That left NASA all by itself in its goal to reach the Red Planet, and fewer people are starting to think it’s even possible.
Somehow, NASA became the underdog in the race for space exploration. And everyone wants to see the underdog rise above it and win. But, sometimes, they tragically falter.
Image source: mars.nasa.gov
NASA is a joke! They are a government agency whose sole mission is to keep you thinking that we have yet to be contacted by extraterrestrials. Meanwhile, the US Air Force’s space program has been very busy the past couple of years trying to crack the Dark Knight Satellite.
The Mars mission is a major hoax on the American public to provide decades of welfare to ivory-tower scientists and their utterly useless pet projects. The obscene squandering that is supported by political alies should be directed not at the moon or any other celestial body, but our crumbling infrastructure here on Earth. SCREW NASA! PAVE MY STREET!
The government does not have a very good record for making sound investment decisions.
As an example, why do we need 10 new aircraft carriers at a cost of 13,BILLION each? Why was space x hired to develop launch vehicles and then given the Saturn 5 engineering data?
You have to wonder just what is going on here.
Slash funding for the space program for 25 straight years and then complain over the plans of what they’re able to do? Yeah, that makes sense.
True about carriers.
False about Space X/Saturn 5 data
(to clarify: true that the carriers are a questionable purchase. False that there is anything fishy or questionable about the Space X/Saturn 5 data.)
On the other hand, think of all the jobs lost if you start hacking away at military spending.
Though I say that as a devils advocate, as I still feel massive defense cuts are an absolute necessity.
Dark/Black Knight is a casing from a capsule on Discoverer VIII in 1959.
Mystery solved. You can move on to real issues now.
Not sure you know what “hoax” means.
Of course there’s no realistic plan. There is no realistic directive, and no realistic funding. Going to Mars is just stupid, but is the sort of thing governments like for PR reasons. If that’s what they really want, NASA will get it done. But it isn’t what they really want. They keep saying that they kind of want it, and NASA keeps doing some basic problem-solving and technology and making vague sketchy plans – basically wasting money they could be putting toward something meaningful. And then Congress and the president go “But … it’s going to cost an awful lot so … let’s not commit any real money to it. Just enough to kind of pretend it’s sort of a possibility. And then we’ll have another committee that criticizes NASA for not having a clear timeline.” And then China will go to Mars and congress will freak out and say “Why hasn’t NASA kept us ahead!!?? We need a committee to condemn them for this, and then a big desperate push to get to Mars!!”
Very few scientists of the “Ivory Tower” variety work on human spaceflight missions; they’re mostly engineers that work for NASA and its contractors. You know, the ones who create those pesky well-paying jobs that retains skills critical to national security.
The NASA budget, around $20B, is approximately 0.5% of the total US budget. Contrast that to the Department of Defense’s ~$500B budget. But please, do go on about NASA’s obscene squandering
If you want to live in a world without a space program, that’s fine. But please make sure to turn in your GPS, cable television, digital camera, water filter, and any memory foam you happen to have on your furniture. Stock trades are time-stamped by GPS, so you should also make sure to get rid of all your stock and clear out your 401(k).
By the way, your municipality is responsible for paving your street. You should talk to them before complaining about NASA.
None of this matters. Private companies like Space X and Virgin Galactic will get to Mars first anyway.
You are spot on. The problems you relate go all the way back to Kennedy’s race to the moon, which was badly flawed for all of the reasons you outlined. Yes, of course we achieved the simplistic goal of landing men on the moon before any other country, but we crash developed dead-end technology that served no wider purpose and then abandoned it. Same with the shuttle: politics doomed it, by forcing NASA to make it too cheaply and too big to make it operationally economical and reliable. I don’t have much hope that the dysfunctional intersection of politics and manned space technology will improve any time soon. Best to leave manned Mars missions to the private sector.