The Moon advances, not an alternative to Mars, says NASA

The moon has not overtaken Mars as a space flight target, despite NASA's efforts to bring astronauts to Earth's closest neighbor, agency officials said.

Jim Bridenstine, a NASA director, and Bill Gerstenmaier, associate director of NASA's Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said at the congressional session yesterday that the red planet remains the ultimate destination. 26).

"The moon is the testing ground, and Mars is the goal," said Bridenstine during his testimony before the Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness of the Committee. Commerce, Science and Transportation of the US Senate. [How Will a Human Mars Base Work? NASA’s Vision in Images]

"The moon has the glory that it's only a three-day trip home," Bridenstine added. "So, we can prove all the technologies, we can reduce all the risks, we can try all the different maturations necessary to live and work on another world.And we can do everything to the moon, where, there there is a problem, if there is an emergency, we know we can bring people home. "

He cited NASA's Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which managed to bring it safely back to Earth despite a serious problem on the way to the moon.

Far from delaying a crewed Mars mission, which NASA intends to perform in the 2030s, current and near-future lunar work should "accelerate our path to reach Mars," Bridenstine said.

This insurance is in line with the wording of SPD 1, which has generated much of the lunar work. The SPD 1, signed by President Donald Trump in December 2017, asks NASA to bring astronauts back to the moon as part of a sustainable exploration program that will eventually bring more distant destinations, such as Mars .

And about the current lunar work: NASA plans to start building a small space station in lunar orbit in 2022. This outpost, called the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, could accommodate astronauts by 2026.

These crew members will remain aboard the Gateway for periods of 30 to 90 days, performing various scientific and exploration work. Some of these astronauts will leave the Gateway to the lunar surface; According to NASA officials, the first outings could take place before the end of the 2020s.

Gateway visits, both human and robotic, will not all be NASA's attempts if everything goes as planned. The US Space Agency aims to make this outpost "interoperable" and open for use by private companies and other countries.

Like Bridenstine, Gerstenmaier pointed out that Mars remains firmly anchored in NASA's manned flight sites.

"Mars is not [taking] a back seat to the moon. What we are seeing is that we have to do the activities around the moon to really get ready to go on Mars, "Gerstenmaier told the Space Subcommittee, which is part of the committee. science, space and the House of Representatives, and technology.

"I do not think we are ready to go directly to Mars today," he added. "I see the moon as a catalyst for Mars."

Gerstenmaier spoke of the enabling nature of gateway technology, highlighting a complex piece of hardware as an example.

"So, we are talking about this Gateway spacecraft on the moon – it can be moved to different places around the moon, it could also serve as a base for a Mars spacecraft," he told members of the subway. committee. "We are going to try to size this rising vehicle coming out of the moon – we need the crews of the moon surface at Gateway – this vehicle will be sized to a Mars-class lander."

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