It hopes to increase humanity’s footprint in deep space

NASA HAS SET out a detailed plan to put a crewed mission on the surface of Mars. In late 2014, the agency announced their ‘Journey to Mars’ programme, intending to put a human on the surface of the Red Planet by the 2030s; this report sets out how they plan to do so.

NASA plans to work alongside international and industrial partners to create and develop the technology needed to keep humans alive, healthy and working in deep space. Once a crew has landed on Mars, they hope to finally answer the questions about life on the Red Planet and on Earth.

The programme will aim to liberate space travel from its reliance on Earth, allowing autonomous deep space travel. Rather than a singular ‘once in a generation’ mission, like the Apollo landings, NASA wants to create a platform and infrastructure for deep space exploration, just as the International Space Station is for low-Earth orbit.

Using the ISS, the first phase of the programme will test technologies near Earth, before going further afield to the proving ground of missions to asteroids and the Moon. Finally the agency will begin sending people to missions near Mars and eventually to its surface.

“NASA’s Journey to Mars is ongoing right now,” says NASA administrator Charles Bolden on the announcement for the plan, “from our Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to new propulsion and habitation systems – and our partnerships across sectors, across states and across the world make it stronger.”

See Comment, right