Will Trump Pursue Sending Humans To Mars?

Various space agencies across the globe are racing to conquer space travel and one of the most promising missions is launching a manned mission to Mars. NASA has many plans for Mars but the election of Donald Trump spurred numerous uncertainties especially about his plans for space exploration. The question is, will he still send humans to Mars?

Space bosses and investors are now looking forward to hearing from the U.S. president-elect to spell out his plans for NASA. According to Phys.org, during the campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump said he wanted to "free NASA from the restriction of serving primarily as a logistics agency for low-orbit activity" that includes the International Space Station (ISS), Earth-observation satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope.

This makes scientists hope that Donald Trump would grant permission to continue with the Mars mission. He, in fact, promised that the Americans will "lead the way into the stars."

The previous administration has already laid the groundwork for the mission on the Red Planet. The primary goal is to establish a settlement on the planet. That is also the ambition of space giant, SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk. Its main goal is to send 100 humans at a time -- starting in 2024.

If the Trump administration would ensure that the trip to Mars is feasible by 2030, as promised, this brings hope to NASA as the front runner in space exploration.

Apart from a settlement and exploration on Mars, NASA and other countries are looking forward to establishing lunar bases. NASA hopes to have a lunar colony by 2020.

"This is our Sputnik moment. America must forever be the pre-eminent spacefaring nation, and the moon is our path to being so," Jim Bridenstine, an Oklahoma congressman rumored to be in the hunt for NASA administrator, said in a recent speech as reported by Dispatch.

Establishing a lunar base is just one of the space agency's aims. It also aims to mine ice at the Moon's poles to produce rocket fuel.