Space
Congress Wants US To Explore Moon Before Asteroid Or Mars, Here Is Why
Sam D
First Posted: Jun 13, 2016 07:17 AM EDT
The Congress is in favor of a trip to the Moon and wants NASA to make it a priority over an asteroid mission or Mars exploration. The House reportedly wants the space agency to plan a lunar mission, because then NASA could pretest technologies needed for a mission to the red planet on the Moon itself.
"There is no better proving ground than the Moon for NASA to test the technologies and techniques needed to successfully meet the goal of sending humans to Mars by the mid 2030s," said Mike Honda, Congress Representative. The possible tests that NASA can carry out on the Moon in preparation of the Martian mission could include testing habitation modules, lunar prospecting, landing and ascent of vehicles. Furthermore, according to reports, NASA itself wants to focus on the lunar mission to facilitate the target of Mars expedition. The exploration of the Moon will give astronauts an experience of real human spaceflight outside Earth's low orbit before actually embarking on a journey to the Martian surface.
In 2010, President Barack Obama and NASA had put forward the proposal of sending astronauts in deep space to visit and study an asteroid in its natural habitat. However, the proposal was deemed as too challenging and expensive by the Congress, and its skepticism was apparent in the limited funding the asteroid mission received. At present, the plans for an asteroid mission include getting a small boulder off the surface of an asteroid and bringing it to a location near the Moon where astronauts can access it more easily. As per a report, NASA wanted a $66.7 million fund for the asteroid mission this year, but the House legislation may possibly deny it and persist on a lunar exploration instead.
The red planet mission also faces problems that go beyond financing, because the space agency should be able to land massive payloads on the Martian surface. Until now only small payloads, such as the Mars Curiosity rover weighing 900 kilograms has been landed on the planet. A human mission, with related cargo weight, would mean much huger and heavier payloads. The members of the Congress feel that a mission to the Moon is a more practical and viable interim step for developing deeper space expeditions in the future.
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First Posted: Jun 13, 2016 07:17 AM EDT
The Congress is in favor of a trip to the Moon and wants NASA to make it a priority over an asteroid mission or Mars exploration. The House reportedly wants the space agency to plan a lunar mission, because then NASA could pretest technologies needed for a mission to the red planet on the Moon itself.
"There is no better proving ground than the Moon for NASA to test the technologies and techniques needed to successfully meet the goal of sending humans to Mars by the mid 2030s," said Mike Honda, Congress Representative. The possible tests that NASA can carry out on the Moon in preparation of the Martian mission could include testing habitation modules, lunar prospecting, landing and ascent of vehicles. Furthermore, according to reports, NASA itself wants to focus on the lunar mission to facilitate the target of Mars expedition. The exploration of the Moon will give astronauts an experience of real human spaceflight outside Earth's low orbit before actually embarking on a journey to the Martian surface.
In 2010, President Barack Obama and NASA had put forward the proposal of sending astronauts in deep space to visit and study an asteroid in its natural habitat. However, the proposal was deemed as too challenging and expensive by the Congress, and its skepticism was apparent in the limited funding the asteroid mission received. At present, the plans for an asteroid mission include getting a small boulder off the surface of an asteroid and bringing it to a location near the Moon where astronauts can access it more easily. As per a report, NASA wanted a $66.7 million fund for the asteroid mission this year, but the House legislation may possibly deny it and persist on a lunar exploration instead.
The red planet mission also faces problems that go beyond financing, because the space agency should be able to land massive payloads on the Martian surface. Until now only small payloads, such as the Mars Curiosity rover weighing 900 kilograms has been landed on the planet. A human mission, with related cargo weight, would mean much huger and heavier payloads. The members of the Congress feel that a mission to the Moon is a more practical and viable interim step for developing deeper space expeditions in the future.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone