In 2010, Obama passed the NASA Authorization Act and assigned NASA to expand human footprints to the other sides of the world. Following this, NASA focused on the “Journey to Mars”.
NASA is aiming to have humans on Mars by the 2030’s, but they’re largely criticized for not having an organized deadline, lacking details and direction. NASA, however, isn’t dedicated to arriving on Mars. Although reaching the red planet has been a longtime goal, it is not their main priority.
Zubrin, the current president of the Mars Society, says, “What we have right now from NASA is the decision that it should be done — someday. They view it as a goal of the human spaceflight program, but they have no program, they have no schedule — not really.”
NASA broke down their plan into three phases and are now working on the first phase. Right now, their goal is to test life support, communication technologies, and human health. A very famous example would be the Twin Study, where they compared retired astronaut Scott Kelly’s body to his twin, Mark Kelly, still on Earth.
Astronaut Scott Kelly (right)—aboard the International Space Station—and his Earth-bound twin brother, Mark, talk about the effects of living in space for one year.
The second stage is when NASA will test drive satellites and habitation facilities around the Moon’s orbit. In 2014, they developed a crew capsule named “Orion” that fits like a jigsaw piece into the heavy lift rocket called the “Space Launch System” or SLS. The first integrated test flight will be conducted in 2018.
Orion and SLS
The third stage is scheduled for the 2030’s: where NASA will send astronauts to the Red Planet. But it will only produce results if the other two stages are successful. To help, NASA is planning to send robotic rovers to Mars to discover any threats.
Now, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, announced that he personally thinks that colonizing Mars would be the best bet of survival of the human race. He planned a self-sustaining Mars colony to house 1 million people over the next 40 to 100 years. Now, Musk is focused on developing the new vehicles SpaceX will use to get there — a reusable rocket booster and a huge spaceship.
SpaceX envisions building a city in Mars
Musk’s plan provides lots of engineering, but it’s light on details on funding and on how he will keep people alive on the journey and on Mars’ surface. He failed to touch on monetary topics and how the people would stay alive. No talk on how to contain water, food, plumbing, or breathable air — vital components of any kind of life. So Musk’s vision for human colonization isn’t as viable as the public initially thought.
Both organizations give plenty information on how they will arrive on the Red Planet, but they lack the explanations on how human life can survive. Additionally. there is also the trial and error that will cost human lives as they figure out a way to get to Mars.
NASA’s and SpaceX’s plans for Mars colonization aren’t complete. They are visions that hope for a safe future for human survival on other planets. Someday, it may occur, but it won’t happen any time soon.
