Photo: NASA
NASA has detailed more of its planning for manned missions to Mars involving the Moon as a base to launch manned expeditions to the planet.
A new review of NASA’s roadmap for long-term lunar exploration to set up missions to Mars was released on the weekend.
“NASA’s Architecture Concept Review (the documents) process is critical to getting us on a path to mount a human mission to Mars,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.
“We’re taking a methodical approach to mapping out the decisions we need to make, understanding resource and technological trades, and ensuring we are listening to feedback from stakeholders.”
Among the newly released papers is one highlighting the need to use fission nuclear plants to power any manned settlement on Mars.
NASA says fission power is unaffected by day and night cycles or potential dust storms on Mars.
New additions to the review includes a list of priority decisions that need to be made early in NASA’s plans to send humans to the Red Planet.
Two new additions to that include a lunar surface cargo lander (moon vehicle) and lunar surface habitat (moon quarters).
NASA says the cargo lander will deliver science and technology payloads, communications systems and more.
The initial habitat will house astronauts on the Moon to extend the crew size, range, and duration of exploration missions and enable crewed and uncrewed missions.
“Identifying and analysing high-level architecture decisions are the first steps to realising a crewed Mars exploration campaign,” said Catherine Koerner, the associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate for NASA.
“Each yearly assessment cycle as part of our architecture process is moving us closer to ensuring we have a well thought out plan to accomplish our exploration objectives.”
NASA says its Moon to Mars planning approach draws on feedback from US industry, academia, international partners and its own workforce.
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency hopes to set up a base to explore the lunar surface, land Americans and the first international astronaut on the Moon and prepare for manned missions to Mars.
