NASA continues to build toward a manned mission to Mars and a new plan to put a space station in orbit above the red planet could help the agency put astronaut boots on the ground.
Using the Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) already under construction, NASA could put six astronauts into orbit over Mars for a year.
While they were there, the astronauts would conduct experiments using the Mars rovers in real time, which would improve scientific discoveries absent the 20 minute time delay NASA researchers work under.
With additional Orion capsules they could even visit the two tiny Martian moon and do some exploring of their own.
The spacefaring nations of the world plan to send at least five robotic missions to Mars in the next five years, and eventually begin colonization of the red planet, but the alien life already there may complicate matters.
NASA is worried about infecting Mars with microbes from Earth that hitch a ride on visiting spacecraft and manage to live through the vacuum of space.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover has been on the surface of the red planet for four years, but if a government audit of the space agency is correct it will be a lot longer before a manned mission makes it there.
A recent government audit of NASA showed the space agency was dangerously close to missing budgetary and timeline goals for its Orion crew capsule and its accompanying Space Launch System (SLS).
The trouble stems from the many changing goals Congress has given NASA over the years and the tight budgetary restrictions the space agency is forced to operate under.
The bottom line: there may be no manned Mars mission in 2030.
Coburn Palmer 