NASA warned plan to send humans to Mars may fail . AFP By Jean-Louis Santini 6 hours ago . .. . .... . ... . The US space agency NASA has been warned that its mission to send humans to Mars will fail unless its revamps its methods and draws up a clear, well-planned strategy to conquer the red planet . View gallery . . . .. Washington (AFP) - The US space agency NASA has been warned that its mission to send humans to Mars will fail unless its revamps its methods and draws up a clear, well-planned strategy to conquer the red planet. The National Research Council said in a congressionally-mandated report that Washington should use stepping stones to achieve its goal of a manned flight to Mars. This could involve exploring an asteroid, building a moon outpost or building more international cooperation with countries like China. To continue on the present course... is to invite failure, disillusionment and the loss of the longstanding international perception that human spaceflight is something the United States does best, said the NRCs 286-page report. NASA welcomed the reports findings, saying it was consistent with the agencys Mars plan approved by Congress and President Barack Obamas administration. It promised to thoroughly review the report and all of its recommendations but insisted that it was worthwhile to set a goal of walking on Mars to set the bar high for other, parallel projects. .. View gallery Journalists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory … Journalists at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are shown April 9, 2014, … The horizon goal for human space exploration is Mars. All long-range space programs, by all potential partners, for human space exploration converge on this goal, it said in a statement. A sustainable program of human deep space exploration must have an ultimate, horizon goal that provides a long-term focus that is less likely to be disrupted by major technological failures and accidents along the way and the vagaries of the political process and economic scene. To date the worlds space agencies have only managed to send unmanned robotic rovers to Mars, the latest being NASAs $2.5 billion Curiosity rover, which touched down in August 2012. The US space agencys older Opportunity rover has been in operation for more than 10 years. But advancing human exploration into the outer reaches of space will require decades of work, hundreds of billions of dollars of funding and significant risk to human life, according to the NRC report. .. View gallery An image of the surface of Mars taken by NASA's … An image of the surface of Mars taken by NASAs rover Curiosity, August 9, 2012 (AFP Photo/) - US-China space cooperation? - That, the report said, makes it impossible for the United States to go to Mars within the current US space budget. Instead, it called for increased cooperation with other nations, including with space rival China, as well as funding from the private sector and other sources. Current federal law bars NASA from participating in bilateral programs with China, which the National Research Council warned reduces substantially the potential international capability that might be pooled to reach Mars. Given the rapid development of Chinas capabilities in space, it is in the best interests of the United States to be open to future international partnerships. The reports authors said that returning to the moon would foster better international cooperation given the interest about the destination in other countries, and such a mission would help develop technology to land and eventually live on Mars. The Obama administration is opposed to another moon landing, saying such a mission would be too costly. It wants instead to focus on capturing an asteroid and placing it into the Moons orbit for future exploration. The NRC highlighted three potential pathways to Mars, two of which include a return to the moon. The third is along the lines of the Obama administrations asteroid mission. Its probably the frankest assessment that there is no public demand for space exploration, that we really dont have a goal clearly stated and that the program that is being carried out wont get us anywhere, said expert John Logsdon. However, the former director of George Washington Universitys Space Policy Institute said: I dont think the report will change anything.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 09:06:18 +0000